The Perks of being Eponine
by Thespian24601
Summary: High school AU. Eponine is a shy sophmore, and is hoplessly in love with Marius Potmercy, who never notices her. Eventual ExE. Please Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

Eponine Thernadier walked into her European History class, her first class as a sophomore at Mohandas Gandhi High School (MGHS), walked straight to the back of the classroom and slumped into a seat, dropping her messenger bag on the floor by her side. She was less than excited to be starting another year of high school. Last year, to put it mildly, had sucked, and she could see no way that this year could be anything resembling an improvement.

A steady parade of students was walking into the classroom, all of them squealing and hugging each other. No one noticed her, of course. Then, the entire room went quiet, and the MGHS royalty walked in. In the lead of course, was the essence of all that is evil, Cosette Fauchelevant, came strutting into class, her boyfriend Marius Potmercy's arm around her waist. The sight of her made Eponine's blood boil. Cosette was the sort of girl who pretended to be sweet and innocent in front of teachers, but to other girls, she was malicious. Regina George herself would have trembled at the sight of her. Her long, shiny, golden blond hair hung flawlessly down her back, her makeup perfect, her teeth straight and even. What really made Eponine mad, though, was the fact that gorgeous, smart, funny, sexy, perfect Marius Potmercy could never take his eyes off of her. They had been dating since freshman orientation, when their eyes had met across the room, and they had instantly fallen _madly in love_. It wasn't fair. She had liked, ok, obsessed over, Marius since the seventh grade, but after four years of doing his homework for him, he had never even looked up, except to say thanks for the assignment.

Of course, Marius and Cosette were surrounded by a horde of jocks. Jason Enjolras, Gus Grantaire, Stephan Courfeyrac, the whole lot of them. Eponine hated them. They were loud, obnoxious, and thought that just because they were amazing at football, they were somehow above everyone else.

The bell rang. A teacher, who looked to be in his late fifties, maybe early sixties, walked to the front of the room. He introduced himself as Mr. Javert, took role, and then began to drone about the French Revolution. Eponine pulled out her notebook and began to diligently take notes. Slowly though, she tuned out Mr. Javert, and dreamed of a day when Marius would notice her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much to everyone who is following this story, and especialy to those of you who wrote reviews. This chapter is a little longer, but I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclamer: I do not own Les Mis (I wish)**

Eight hours later, Eponine walked out of MGHS, her old, battered messenger bag filled with several pounds of homework, plus all of the stuff she had promised Marius she would do for him. She walked down to the bus stop, and sat down on the bench to wait.

As the stop was only about a hundred yards away from the school, she had a clear view, of the school. Out on the front steps, Grantaire and Courfeyrac (she wasn't entirely sure why, but she always called them by their last names) were bumbling around like they were drunk, which, in Grantaire's case, was probably true. Eponine had sat next to him in Earth Science last year, and he had always reeked of vodka. Next to them, Enjolars was immersed in deep conversation with a boy whose name Eponine thought might be Mason Joly, not that he'd ever spoken to _her_ of course. Then, as she let her eyes wander, she saw Marius…. Making out with Cosette.

She knew that she should be used to it by now. They had been doing it religiously; right after the last bell rang, for a year now. But that didn't mean that it hurt any less. Just then, the bus pulled up, and she hopped on. Once seated on one of the bus's hard, smelly, seats, she pulled out her European history textbook and tried to immerse herself in aristocratic France. But all she could see was Marius, his tongue down the throat of that monster.

During the first few weeks of ninth grade, when Cosette and Marius had first started to date, Eponine had hated her, it was true. But that had been just petty jealousy. Cosette was prettier than her, and had gotten Marius. But then, somehow, Cosette had found out about her crush on, ok, complete obsession with, Marius. How she had done this, of course, was a mystery. She had never confessed this secret to anyone, but, one October day, during Algebra, Cosette had flicked her a note that said that she knew, and that if Eponine didn't meet her demands, she would tell Marius.

Terrified, Eponine had agreed. She had spent last year writing Cosette's essays, picking up her dry cleaning and even ditching school to buy her coffee. To everyone else, Cosette was the sweetest, nicest human being to ever walk the face of the earth. When she started talking to Eponine however, her baby blue eyes narrowed into snakelike slits, her lovely face contorting into a vile mask. If only Marius could see this Cosette, the one only Eponine had ever seen. He would probably dump her faster than she could count to ten.

Adrift in this pleasant fantasy, the bus ride went quickly, and soon she was hoping off, about a block away from Kennedy Middle School, where she was going to pick up her little brother, Gavroche from Middle School.

When she arrived, her brother was sitting on the grassy hill in front of the front doors, a large group of seventh graders surrounding him.

"Oi! 'Vroche!" Eponine called out, crossing over to her brother. He was flirting with a cute girl with a blond pixie cut. So typical of her brother.

"Hi 'Ponine." He called out lazily

"Let's go. She said, grabbing her brother's hand and dragging him away, "I've got a lot of homework to do."

"Oh." Gavroche pretended to understand, but, as he had never done a smidgen of homework in his life, she doubted he was really sympathetic. "Let's go"

He followed her out. It was only a couple of blocks from Kennedy to the Thernadier household, but there was no way she was letting her thirteen year old brother walk through there by himself. It wasn't exactly a nice part of town.

"So, who's the girl?" Eponine asked Gavroche in a teasing tone.

He turned tomato red "none of your business", he mumbled.

"As long as you don't date her for a week and then dump her again." This had happened many times when he was in sixth grade.

"Shut up!" He said, taking a playful swipe at her. Eponine darted nimbly out of the way.

When they reached their building, Eponine drew Gavroche closer to her. They walked up several flights of filthy linoleum tiles, and entered the apartment occupied by herself, Gavroche, her fourteen year old sister Azelma, her mother, and her father, the landlord of the building.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! This chapter took me a really long time to write. I hope you enjoy it!**

When Eponine walked into history the next day, all she wanted to do was fall down dead. Last night had been even worse than usual.

At around 7:00 last night, after she had finished both her and Marius's homework, and cooking herself and Gavroche some packaged ramen noodles for dinner (her parents were far too busy ripping off the various tenants of the grungy apartment building to ever actually cook anything), her father had come home, drunk to the gills, as always.

At least his "Friends" hadn't been with him. These men were even worse than her father, and that was saying a whole lot. They were all vile, abusive alcoholics, who had never done an honest day's work in their lives. Brujon, Babet, Bossuet, Montparnasse (who was her age and destined to be a high school dropout and end up just like the rest of them.) she hated the whole lot of them.

When her father had lumbered into the house, he hadn't shown the slightest urge to beat either his wife or his children, and Eponine had thought _maybe this year won't be as bad as last year. _Then her sister had walked in.

Azelma was a year younger then Eponine, and her polar opposite. Azelma was peppy and outgoing, while Eponine was shy, and perfectly content to staying in the background. Eponine was practical, and worked hard to avoid making her father unhappy, she was never out past five, complained too loudly, and she even put up with the vile Montparnasse. Azelma, on the other hand, was silly and thought she was invulnerable. Oh, how Eponine longer to be like that. If she had that confidence, maybe she could talk to Marius, beyond "Hi".

When Azelma came in, her father had said "Ah! Here's the little hussy. Think you can just walk in here whenever you want Huh?" When Azelma had just stared at him in stunned silence, he had roared "answer me, you ungrateful bitch! ANSWER ME!" Azelma had tried to stutter out something, but her father had walked up to her and slapped her hard across the face. As he was raising his hand to strike again, Eponine had jumped in between, grabbing his wrist. She had paid for that. Her body was now marked with several large, hideous purple bruises. She didn't care though. He could hurt her all he wanted, but she would do anything to keep him off her siblings.

Just then, Marius walked in, Cosette practically glued to his side. She sighed. She had seen him that day of course, slipping him the assignments she had done for him, but he had barley event turned his head to thank her. Pain rippled through her, even worse than what her father had done to her.

Just then, Mr. Javert walked in and started class. More French Revolution stuff. Then, he announced that he would be assigning them pairs to work on an assigned project, then to give an oral report on it later. After the usual groaning had subsided, Eponine began praying that it would be one of her few friends in the class.

They were other background people too; they all sat together at lunch, and made small talk, but weren't close. She was also praying that it would not be Marius, because she knew how painful being that close to him would be. As the pairs were announced, she couldn't help but think that Mr. Javert had chosen these pairings to be spiteful, or maybe it was his idea of a funny joke.

Grantaire had been paired with Bella Rodriguez, who was one of Eponine's close friends, but hated Grantaire with a truly fiery passion, and, as soon as he sat down next to her, she spat in his face. Marius had been paired with Hanna Webber, who was arguably the prettiest girl in the sophomore class, and whom Cosette looked like she wanted to strangle. When Cosette was paired with Rita Cain, who was a punk art freak and could probably snap Cosette's neck with one hand, she couldn't help but feel a sense of vindictive pleasure. Then, Mr. Javert announced her partner, who was even worse than Marius, or Grantaire, or maybe even Cosette.

Enjolras.

When Enjolras had _finally _ figured out who Eponine was, he came over and said "Hi! So, our topic is the Student Revolt in June 1832. What do you want to do?"

Oh dear lord, Eponine thought. Please, kill me now. "Um, maybe we should research the French student rebellion of June 1832."

Her sarcasm surprised even her. She had always been close to mute around those sort of guys, with their straight a's and football titles. Now, though, she was summoning the real 'Ponine.

Enjolars, for his part, looked stunned. Eponine had never so much as looked at him before. Who was she?

"If you know so much, maybe you should write a novel." He retorted.

Then, they got into an argument about who was smarter. Then, Grantaire came over, desperate to get away from Bella, who had slapped him twice in the last five minutes, and accidentally bumped into her, accidentally touching one of her fresh bruises with his arm.

When she winced, Enjolras smirked and said "Aw, did pour little Epi get an owie?"

Between the pain and the comment, Eponine was using everything she had in her not to cry. She didn't speak again until the bell rang, getting out of the room as fast as possible, not even waiting for her friend Gayle, with whom she would usually walk to ceramics with. In that moment she hated Enjolras. He was horrible, and after this project was done, she would never speak to him again.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm sorry this chapter is sort of a filler, but I couln't think of a way to keep the story going without it. I always appreciate ideas in reviews! Please review!**

Of the many things that happened at Eponine's lunch table, eating was not among them. The girls who sat there were either on strict diets, or else just forgot to bring food. Eponine, of course, rarely had enough for dinner, let alone lunch. Nevertheless, she enjoyed sitting with her friends in the small corner of the cafeteria, far, far away from where Cosette and her kin held court. Little had changed since middle school, except, over time, Eponine, Gayle, and Bella had been joined by Rita, Hanna (who had been kicked out of Cosette's group, because she had once tried to flirt with Marius), and Angie Rodger, who was on the soccer team

When Eponine sat down, Bella looked up from the salad she was toying with. "Hey 'Ponine." She said, smiling.

A second later, Hanna sat down next to Eponine. "Soooo," she said with a giggle, "I hear you got Jason Enjolras as your partner is history."

Eponine groaned. Just like every girl in school, Hanna was obsessed with Enjolras. Personally, she didn't understand what the big deal was. Sure, Enjolras was cute, but it was Marius who was seriously hot.

Apparently, her friends didn't share her opinion, because, the entire table burst into giggles. "Oh my god, you are so lucky!" Angie squealed enviously.

"No, I'm not. He's a colossal jerk." Eponine replied, combing through a lock of her dark brown hair.

"Who the hell cares?" Rita asked "he's hot!"

Gayle suddenly froze up. "Oh no," she muttered "plastic alert." Eponine automatically whipped her head around to look in the direction of the table on the other side of the cafeteria, where Cosette held court.

Sure enough, Cosette was walking right towards them, her long blond hair bouncing behind her. She was trailed by Cece Ray, Mandy Cameron, Lucy Slater, and Sara Powell. All of these girls were similar to Cosette, pretty, popular, rich. Eponine hated all of them.

When Cosette reached their table, she leaned down to Eponine, and with a simpering smile, said "Oh, hi _'Ponine_. How was your summer? I expect you were curled up in your hovel? Are you not eating lunch? Bet you can't afford it, can you _'Ponine. _Aren't you such a poor little dear?" Her cronies all giggled.

"Sette, knock it off!" Marius was suddenly standing behind Bella.

Cosette looked stunned. All the color drained from her face, and she stuttered, trying to remedy the situation. "O-o-o-h h-hi Marius. I was just teasing, one old friend to another" She tossed her arm around Eponine's shoulders. "Isn't that right 'Ponine?" She dug her fingernails, hard, into Eponine's shoulder.

"Of course." Eponine mumbled. Cosette got up, wiggled her fingers at the table, slung her arm around Marius's shoulder, and sauntered off, girls in tow.

A long silence followed this chain of events. Then Rita said "I hate this place."

Gayle shook her head "No, I hate her"

Bella nodded "Me too. But what was Potmercy doing?"

Hanna snorted "Maybe he's realized he's dating the most awful girl at this school, except possibly Cece."

Eponine nodded along. Marius coming to her defense gave her an idea. Who said Cosette ruled the world? She was allowed to talk to Marius.

The only class she had with Marius without Cosette was Chemistry. He sat in front of her, next to Enjolras. Unfortunately, she sat next to Mandy Cameron, but she was up front, flirting with Courfeyrac.

She reached out and tapped Marius on the back of the head.

"Hello Marius, What's new?"

He turned around and smiled. "I've been studying. Precalc is hard."

Eponine almost swooned. He was so smart! Pre-calculus? She was barley passing Algebra! "You know, I could have done Precalc too." She said, trying to look smart.

Apparently, Marius didn't agree. "I doubt it. You're not really book smart"

Eponine tried her best to look indignant, even though she agreed. It was amazing she hadn't been held back last year.

Marius saw her face and hastily added "You're street smart." She flushed.

"I like the new hairstyle Marius" she said, reaching out and running her hand over his new, sort of spikey hairdo.

He laughed, and good naturedly pulled back his head. "God, Eponine, you're such a flirt." Then he turned around and struck up a conversation with Enjolras, something about oppression. He didn't speak to her for the rest of the class.

_How can someone so amazing be so blind?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry this chapte ris short, but I really wanted to post something. Send me a review and tell me what you think. Internet cookies to everyone who reviews!**

The next day at lunch, Hanna asked, "So, what are you guys doing for Homecoming?"

Everyone at the table groaned. Last year, they had gone to Homecoming together, and it had sucked. Eponine had spent the entire night by the refreshment table, watching Marius dance with Cosette.

"Oh dear lord, no" Rita groaned. "We suffered through that horror last year, why are we even considering going?"

"Well," Angie said, "I have to go; I'm covering it for yearbook. Please don't make me go on my own."

So that was how, a couple of weeks later, Eponine ended up at Homecoming, wearing a short, strapless green dress she had borrowed from Hanna. She was exactly where she had been last year, next to the punch bowl.

Cosette and Marius were dancing, surrounded by their friends. As always, Cosette looked perfect, in an almost virginal, long, white dress, which showed off her body perfectly. She had shed the Chanel heels that probably cost more than Eponine's entire wardrobe, and was dancing barefoot.

Eponine's friends had scattered. Hanna was dancing with Courfeyrac in a corner, Angie was taking photos, Gayle and Bella were flirting with a couple of guys from their French class, and she didn't even want to think about where Rita had gotten too. She watched Marius spin Cosette, and dreamed that one day, it would be her.

"Hello 'Ponine" a voice whispered in her ear. Eponine jumped. She had been so lost in her daydream that she hadn't noticed Montparnasse creeping up beside her.

She stepped away "Go away Montparnasse," She was so not in the mood. Montparnasse had this grand idea that the two of them were meant to be, which was such a joke, because, no way, not in a million years.

"Oh come on, 'Ponine" he whispered, sneaking his lips up her neck, "You know you want it."

Eponine wrenched herself away, and hurried away. She didn't pay attention to where she was going, just away from Montparnasse. She ended up in the midst of the football team, partying down.

They had formed a close-knit circle, the group hiding the person in the middle who was drinking. Eponine had no questions about who had snuck in the booze, and sure enough, when she looked, Grantaire was chugging a beer.

Then, she saw Mr. Javert, her history teacher, running towards the group, a whole squadron of teachers streaming behind him.

She had no idea what caused her to do what she did next. Maybe it was years of serving as lookout for her father and his gang, maybe it was loyalty to Marius. But, whatever it was, she suddenly heard herself yelling, "It's the police, run for it, it's JAVERT"

The dancers scattered, Eponine among them. She slipped down the back stairs, and ducked into a supply closet, quietly closing the door behind her.

"Well, hello Eponine"

Eponine groaned. Of all the people to be stuck in a supply closet, why did it have to be Enjolras?

"Hi" She choked out. She had spoken to him only when strictly necessary, and this was way more intimate then she had EVER wanted to be with him.

Enjolras walked toward her. "Nice to see you hear,"

There was something off about him. She inhaled, and the scent of alcohol wafted onto her nose.

Oh no. Not only was she trapped in a supply closet with Enjolras, she was trapped in a supply closet with a _drunk_ Enjolras.

She had never pegged Enjolras for the type. He was supper serious, star quarterback, president of the sophomore class, on the debate team, etc. Grantaire really knew how to peer pressure.

Suddenly, Enjolras was on top of her, kissing her roughly, and his hands moving, well, far away from expectable positions.

She jumped away from him. "Oh my god" she screamed, not caring who heard. She slapped Enjolras, hard, across the face, the leapt out of the supply closet. She didn't know if Javert was finished upstairs, so she slid into an empty classroom to wait.

Unfortunately, the classroom was not so empty. Grantaire was in there, sucking some girls face. Neither of them looked up when Eponine opened the door, so she was about to close the door, when she recognized the girls mane of dark brown hair, highly similar to her own.

No way. It was Azelma. Her sister Azelma was making out with Gus Grantaire at Homecoming. And, oh dear lord, she was wearing a piece of fabric that Eponine presumed was supposed to be a dress, but appeared to be a shirt made for an American Girl Doll.

Ok, so when she got home, she was going to murder her sister, but right now, she just wanted to get out of there. The gym was in chaos. Teachers were running around, looking for Grantaire's liquor, and it was quite easy for Eponine to walk to the exit.

But, just before she left, she saw the shoe. One of Cosette's thousand dollar Chanel shoes. Instinctively, she grabbed it, and then she left, disappearing into the rain, with only a lone shoe for company.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry that this chapter took such a long time to be posted. This chapter is dedicated to Of Cyanide and Suicide, Eponine Daee, and treble-maker 333. Even if you hate this story, please review. It makes me write so much faster.**

The next day, everyone was exhausted and nursing hangovers. Even the always impeccable Cosette was wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses, like she was some sort of movie star. Grantaire was drinking a Bloody Mary, trying to be covert about it, and Enjolras, who stumbled into the classroom five seconds before the bell rang, looked like he wanted to die. Even Mr. Javert looked a little worse for wear. Instead of lecturing, he told them to spilt off into pairs and work on their individual projects. He pulled out what looked like a star chart and began to study it.

Despite not having drunken anything stronger then fruit punch the night before, Eponine was feeling awful. After the disastrous dance, she had gone home, where, to her relief, her father was already passed out drunk in his room. She had had to wait up for her sister to come home, and, when she did, she had come in dragging Gavroche, who, it turned out, had snuck into the dance with pixie cut girl, whose name, it turned out, was Claire. Eponine had been so proud of her sister for chewing out Gavroche that she hadn't had the heart to chew out her sister for making out with Grantaire. But, she was still exhausted from the entire emotional trauma of Enjolras groping her, then the sight of her sister making out with a bona fide freak.

Enjolras came over to the corner where she was sitting, after Bella, Harper, Gayle, and Rita had left to go find their respective partners. Eponine hadn't told her friends about the incident with Enjolras, because she knew that they would all think that that was the coolest thing ever.

"Hello," Eponine said coolly.

Enjolras looked like her wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. "Hi" he mumbled; staring at the disgusting, puke colored carpet of the classroom.

"Lovely weather" Eponine said, sounding detached.

Enjolras leaned closer, dropping his voice to a whisper, "Look, Eponine, about last night, I am so, so sorry. I-"

"Forget about it" Eponine interrupted quickly. The absolute last think she wanted to do was talk about this with Enjolras. All she really wanted to do was forget the whole ordeal.

Hoping desperately that Enjolras would get the message; she opened up one of the textbooks she had checked out from the school library. Unfortunately, it was impossible for Eponine to care about the June Rebellion of 1832; personally, she thought that the students were just stupid. Enjolras on the other hand, seemed to be very much on the student's side, which was just weird.

She skimmed a page, not taking in a single word. When she moved her hand to turn a page, Enjolras grabbed her wrist.

"Look," he whispered, looking at her sort of intensely, "I know that you probably don't want to talk about it, but, could you please not tell anyone? If word gets around that I was drinking at Homecoming, I might get kicked off the football team, and I'm sort of dating Sara, and she would get so pissed so-"

Eponine interrupted this by laughing loudly "Oh my god" she gasped between giggles, you're dating Sara? Sara _Powell_?"

"Shut up!" He said, mock punching her arm (her bruises had long since healed, and the new ones she had were on her abdomen and shoulder) "What's wrong with Sara?"

Eponine burst out laughing again. Sara Powell was very pretty, it was true, but she was so _stupid_. She was always asking incredibly stupid questions, like last week, she had asked Mr. Javert if Marie Antoinette died because she had a heart attack from eating too much cake. "What isn't wrong with Sara?" As Cosette was busy trying to avoid getting her ass kicked by Rita, she felt free to criticize to her heart's desire, which, considering what had happened with Enjolras last night was pretty serious.

"Eponine, I swear to god, if you don't shut up, I will"

"Spill what happened last night to everyone in the school?" Eponine asked innocently, "Oh, yes, I would."

Enjolras just glared at her. Fortunately, the bell rang, and she quickly gathered up her books and walked hurriedly away. A couple of classes later, though, she saw Enjolras walking down the hall, his arm around Sara. Since he was so much smarter, they didn't have any classes together, so when they reached Mr. Brown's algebra classroom, he quickly kissed her. Ew. That was all she had to say. But, why did she feel so empty?

**Sorry that this chapter was sort of just a filer, I promise the next one will be better. Don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**As always, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed. I love getting them so much! When Aaron, Samantha, Eddie and the rest of them came on during the Oscars, I totally lost it, and screamed so loudly that the dog ran away.**

Before art, Eponine stopped at her locker. As she spun the dial, she thought of Marius. Marius, Marius, Marius. The pain of watching him with Cosette was so intense, she felt like vomiting. Then, Grantaire and the rest of the crowd came, running down the hall, bellowing like buffoons. Suddenly, Enjolras crashed into her, knocking her to the floor. Loose papers from her binder flew all over the floor. Eponine flushed, hurriedly scampering to pick them up, hoping desperately that Marius hadn't seen.

Unfortunately, Enjolras had stooped down to help her. "I'm really sorry," he began, but then, he froze, the cell diagram in his hand falling to the floor. He was staring at her chest.

Eponine was about to slap him, when she realized what he was looking at. When she has stooped down, her t-shirt had slid down, showing the top of the nasty purple bruise that bloomed across her collar bone. Her father had given it to her just last night. Just by the look in Enjolras's eyes, she knew that he knew.

Some sort of instinct grabbed hold of her, and she grabbed her binder and walked away as fast as she possibly could without breaking into a run, leaving her papers, and Enjolras, behind.

All through art, she tried to lose herself in Rita and Hanna's argument about whether or not Courfeyrac was worth Hanna's time, but all she could see was the expression of horror on Enjolras's face.

During Chemistry, Eponine kept her head down, staring at her textbook, never looking up, even when she could feel Enjolras's eyes on her. She hated people looking at her, except her few friends, her siblings, and Marius. How ironic that the one person she wanted desperately to see her was the one that never did.

Gavroche had a "date" with pixie cut girl, so Eponine didn't have to pick him up for an hour. As soon as she left the school, she headed straight for the ABC coffee shop, where Marius hung out after school, the one place he could be seen without Cosette, whose loving but strict father required her to be home at 3:30 every day.

Fortunately, the food here wasn't bad, and it was cheap to boot. She fished out the two dollars that she had "borrowed" from the drawer where her father kept cash. She ordered a cup of coffee and a large slice of pie. Then, she sat on the overstuffed green sofa and waited.

Sure enough, Marius came in, surrounded by his friends. Too late, Eponine realized that Enjolras would be with him, but there was no way he would say something about what he had discovered in front of everyone, right?

After the boys got their food, they all sat down on the couch and on the chairs that surrounded it. To her relief, Enjolras did not sit next to her, though, much to her chagrin, neither did Marius. Instead, she ended up seated next to Mason Joly.

"It's Eponine, right?" he asked

Eponine was amazed that he was speaking to her, let alone that her knew her name.

"Yeah," she said with a smile.

"Hi 'Ponine" Marius called out, and a wide smile stretched across her face, just like it did whenever Marius looked at her.

After that, it wasn't hard to blend in. She just floated along, contributing to the conversation on occasion, but really just listening to Marius, laughing at his jokes, and talking to him without Cosette lurking overhead, like an overgrown bird of prey.

She looked at the clock and started to get up, it was almost time to pick up Gavroche from his "date", when the kid himself came in, holding the hand of pixie cut girl.

"Ello" Gavroche called out, sitting on the arm of Enjolras's chair "everyone, this is Claire"

"Hi" Claire said shyly, sitting on the arm of the couch, without dropping her brother's hand.

"'Vroche," Eponine asked, stunned, "what are you doing here?"

"Hanging around" Gavroche said cockily

"Wait" Enjolras asked, his eyes narrowing, "How do you to know each other?"

Gavroche hopped off his perch and slung his arm around his sister's shoulders "I know we don't look alike, but she's my older sister"

Horror washed over Enjolras's face, though he managed to morph it into a sarcastic gasp.

Eponine wanted to tell him that while it was too late for herself and Azelma, she would never, ever let her father hurt Gavroche.

Apparently, Gavroche was friendly with Enjolras and the others, and they in turn, regarded him as some sort of mascot. They spent another hour laughing together, sipping their coffees and eating their pie. Eponine couldn't remember having a better afternoon, but suddenly, she looked up at the clock. It was nearly 4:30, and the bus ride back home would take at least half an hour. She swore loudly.

Everyone stopped talking. "Language, Epi," Grantaire slurred. He had made his coffee "Irish" so he was noticeably drunk.

Eponine ignored him. "Come on, Gavroche, we need to go" She practically screamed

Gavroche looked at the clock too, and he too swore. "I'll see you tomorrow, Claire," he said leaning down and kissing her. Her SEVENTH GRADE brother was kissing girls. She was going to have words with her brother.

They both said hurried goodbyes, and then ran out the door.

Eponine tried not to think about the terrified expression on Enjolras's face as she and Gavroche had hurtled out the door.


	8. Chapter 8

**I am so, SO sorry about how long this chapter took me to post, but between soccer tryouts and other stuff, I just didn't have time. Hopefully I will be able to update more regularly from now on. The more reviews I get, the faster I write, so PLEASE review. **

The next day, Eponine delayed walking into class until the second before the bell rang. She kept her head down, praying that Mr. Javert wouldn't make them work on their projects today. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where she was going, and of course, she walked straight into Enjolras.

_Why? _Just once, could she walk into this class without being noticed by that boy? Apparently not. "Oh My God, I'm so sorry," she said. She could feel her face turning into a tomato.

"Oh, that's fine," he said, hurriedly. He seemed distracted; he didn't even look to see if she had bruises, which of course she did, a really nasty one her side. She was pretty sure her father had bruised her ribs with his foot.

She was very grateful for whatever was distracting him, and even more so when Mr. Javert barked "Get in your seats, or you'll have detention faster than you can blink!"

_Wow Mr. Javert, chill pill, please. _Eponine thought, sliding into her chair.

Mr. Javert really was in a bad mood. Instead of having them work on their projects, or lecturing them about the French revolution, he went off on a fifty-minute rant about the inadequacies of the parole system in the state, and how easy it was for prisoners to break said parole.

Eponine tuned it out Mr. Javert after a while, and covertly looked at Marius. He didn't look happy. Neither did Cosette. The two of them were sitting next to each other, but weren't holding hands, cuddling or making out, which was unheard of for them. Even stranger, Miss Prim-and-Proper Cosette had her phone out and was texting rapidly, instead of taking notes like a good girl. Something big had happened, but Eponine didn't spend to long wondering about it. She sunk into a daydream where Marius realized how horrible Cosette was, and fell madly in love with her.

When the bell rang, Eponine quickly scampered out of the class, not waiting for Gayle. Getting away before Enjolras had the chance to corner her was essential to her plan, which was to avoid him until she thought of a better plan.

The rest of the morning passed without great incident. Since the only other class she shared with Enjolras was Chemistry, she figured lunch would be ordinary too.

However, barley had she sat down and pulled out the orange she had brought for lunch, when Joly and Courfeyrac came over to their table.

"Hey guys, can we sit here today?" Joly asked.

Everyone at the table exchanged fleeting looks before coming to a general consensus.

"Sure," Hanna said, scooting over to make room for Courfeyrac. Joly, meanwhile, slide onto the bench next to Bella, which caused her cheeks to flush.

Rita chomped her gum and leaned forward. "So, why have you gentleman come to visit our humble abode."

Joly laughed. "We couldn't take the drama."

Gayle leaned in conspiratorially, "_Drama _sounds serious."

Everyone laughed, but then Courfeyrac's face turned sober. "Yeah, it actually is. Cosette and Marius are upstairs up on that stairway that leads to the room, screaming at each other."

"WHAT?" six girls screamed at the same time. Six heads turned toward the popular table, where sure enough, Marius and Cosette were absent.

"What happened?" Angie asked.

"God, I don't know," Courfeyrac said looking annoyed. "I have better things to do then follow the soap opera unfolding."

"Amen to that!" Rita yelled, giving Courfeyrac a high five.

The rest of lunch passed without mention of Marius and Cosette. To Eponine's surprise, Courfeyrac and Joly were incredibly nice, and she was really happy for Hanna and Bella.

To Eponine's delight, Enjolras didn't even look her way during Chem. Class, though, unfortunalty, neither did Marius. After French, her last class of the day, she was almost to the bus stop, when a familiar voice called out, "Hey, Eponine!"

She nearly swooned. Marius was behind her, and full on looking at her, making her feel like lightning was flowing through her veins. "Hi Marius," she said, praying she wasn't blushing.

Marius beckoned her to come closer. "Listen 'Ponine, Cosette and I had a huge fight, and she won't talk to me, would you bring this to her?" He handed her a sheet of paper that had been carefully folded. The word _Cosette _was written across the front. "She lives at number 55 Plume Street."

Eponine knew that Rita or Hanna would have laughed in Marius's face, but he was looking at her so earnestly, she felt her resistance melt. Still, she decided to tease him first.

"What will you give me?" She asked aloofly.

"Anything!" Marius responded, fumbling in his pocket and pulling out a twenty."

"No, I don't want your money." she said quickly.

"Here, I'll do your homework tonight." Marius said a pleading expression on his face.

Eponine pretended to ponder. "I suppose" she said, trying to sound indifferent. She handed him the books that he would need, and said goodbye. She went to Kennedy to pick up Gavroche, walked him home, than got back on the bus to go to the princess's palace.

Cosette's neighborhood could not have been more different then the place where Eponine had grown up. There, it was not uncommon to hear the sound of gunshots, and a crack dealer lived on every corner. The buildings were dilapidated and covered in graffiti, and cigarette butts littered every sidewalk.

Here, the houses were big and fancy, with enormous gardens and fancy metal fences. The lawns were well manicured, and the sidewalks perfectly clean. When Eponine stepped off her bus, she felt like there was a giant neon sign above her head, reading I DON'T BELONG HERE.

Outside Cosette's house, Eponine tried to muster her courage to go up the cobblestone path and ring the bell, when she heard a wailing.

It was coming from the backyard. Eponine knew that spying on people was wrong, but the idea of Cosette moaning hysterically was just too good to resist. She crept along the fence, counting on the thick layer of foliage around the edge of the garden to camouflage her.

Through a gap in the trees, she saw a group of girls sitting on a plaid blanket in a clearing of trees.

Cosette, Cece, Mandy, and Lucy were all trying to comfort Sara, who was lying on the ground bawling.

"H-h-h-ow could he?" she wailed

"Shhh," Lucy said soothingly. "Jason is an ass; you can do so much better."

"But, I don't want something better!" Sara howled, rolling over onto her back. I want J-J-Jason"

"No," Cosette said, "He's like so serious! You want someone who is more fun, like you!"

Eponine repressed a giggle. So, Enjolras had dumped Sara. For some reason, that made her feel immensely happy. It was because she hated Sara, Eponine decided. She felt flustered.

"Come on," Cece said in her annoying high-pitched voice, "let's go to a club tonight, you can hook up with someone."

Oh dear lord, Eponine thought. She couldn't take this anymore. She slid the note into the fence. Cosette and the others took no notice, so she coughed loudly. Cosette screamed and ran to the fence.

But Eponine was already gone.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm really sorry that the last chapter was totally a filer, but it was necessary to pass along the story. This chapter, I hope, is a little better. Please take the time to drop a review, I always welcome ideas and advice. PLEASE REVIEW!**

When Eponine walked into History the next day, she felt like she was in serious physical pain. Marius and Cosette had been making out in an alcove near her locker. _Why _had she taken the letter to Cosette? It was stupid, helping Marius get his girlfriend back. He should have been the one who left her letters.

But, she could never say no to Marius. He had done her homework, and, when she had looked it over, it had actually been done correctly. In fact, he had even done her math homework, which she had never been able to do for him, because he was always ahead of her in math.

Enjolras, when he walked in, wore a self-satisfied smirk across his face, the sort of thing that guys always wore when they were "free" again. When he walked it, Grantaire and Courfeyrac cheered and high-fived him. The sight of him made Eponine feel nauseated.

Mr. Javert's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked exhausted. After taking role, he told them to work on their individual projects. Then, he propped up his feet, and started looking through the WANTED section of the newspaper; only the newspaper appeared to be dated ten years ago. Mr. Javert was a very good teacher, but he was incredibly weird.

Eponine crossed over to Enjolras's desk, and said, very sarcastically, "So, I hear you dumped Karen Smith."

Enjolras laughed. "Good to see you too Eponine."

Eponine sat on top of the desk next to him. "So, why did you do it?"

Enjolras looked uncomfortable. "Well, we really didn't have anything in common, and I sort of felt like, well, our relationship was based on social pressure, like, everyone is pairing off, you know, Marius and Cosette, Courfeyrac and Hanna, Joly and Bella, Gavroche and Claire, Grantaire and that one freshman-"

"WHAT?" Eponine yelled. The entire class looked at her, and she hurriedly looked down. "What did you just say?"

"Grantaire's dating some freshmen, why?"

Eponine groaned. "Oh my God. What does she look like?"

"Umm, medium build, tan, long dark brown hair, she looks sort of like," he trailed off, realizing why Eponine's face was frozen in horror.

"I'm going to kill her." Eponine muttered. Before Enjolras could ask about Azelma, she said, "But, anyway, I totally understand about dating because of everyone telling you that you should."

This had been a mistake. Enjolras's head shot up, and he asked "Who?" barley disguising fear.

Seriously. This was just irritating. Sure, her father hit her, but she wasn't going to let herself get raped or sold into sexual slavery.

"Yeah," she said, laughing a little bit. "Montparnasse. You know, his dad and my father are tight, so everyone thinks we should date, but I'm like never in a million years."

Enjolras forced a laugh, but genuine concern was etched across his eyes. She quickly changed the topic to the school assignment, and thankfully, Enjolras didn't breach the forbidden topic.

The events of the next week were quite a mixed bag. On the one hand, Enjolras didn't try to talk to Eponine about her bruises, Sara had hooked up with some senior baseball player, and Joly officially asked out Bella, and now they were a happy couple. On the other hand, Hanna and Courfeyrac had gotten into a fight and were no longer speaking, Marius and Cosette were still as thick as thieves, and Eponine wanted to murder both of her siblings.

Azelma, it turns out, had been dating Grantaire secretly since Homecoming, and when Eponine had confronted her about it, Azelma had thrown a full-scale hissy fit, and now the two were not speaking.

It was Gavroche, however was the real problem. On Thursday afternoon, Eponine had walked up to Kennedy to find Gavroche in a lip lock with a girl with long red hair. When Eponine had confronted him about Pixie-Cut-Claire, his response had been "Who?"

That was why Eponine was not on speaking terms with either of her siblings.

The next week, however, something changed. Her father and his gang had been even drunker than usual, and Gavroche had been in the line of fire. Eponine had pulled Babet off of Gavroche, but had paid for it with a horrible black eye.

There was no way she could go to school. She had dropped off Gavroche as usual, but then she took the bus to the ABC café, where she bought some coffee, and pulled out the newspaper she had taken from the bus, because its purchaser had left it there. She settled onto the overstuffed sofa and lost herself in the economic turmoil.

Around nine o'clock, just when she was considering ordering a sandwich, someone sat down next to her.

"Fancy seeing you here." Enjolras said.


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter is dedicated to BroadwayActingChick15, preciousat, and Werewolf1010, some of my most faithful reviewers. Anyway, I hope that none of you guys will kill me for this chapter, but come on; it's not really a romance if everything works out perfectly.**

_Oh Shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit._

"Uh, err, hi, Enjolras" Eponine choked out, trying to sound casual. Surreptitiously, she touched her face, making sure the oversized sunglasses were still shielding her eyes. "You ditched class." She said, trying hard to keep her voice steady.

"So did you" Enjolras said, flashing a cocky smile.

Something about that smile mad Eponine feel strangely flustered. Then, she got mad at herself for feeling flustered. She dropped the friendly façade. "Why are you here Enjolras?" she demanded harshly.

He rolled his eyes. "To talk to you."

Eponine stared at him coldly "How did you know I was here."

Enjolras smirked. "It's funny how much your brother knows about you 'Ponine. All one has to do is go to Kennedy, get him to stop sucking face with a girl in the art room, and he'll tell you a lot."

"Wait, sucking face with whom?"

Enjolras looked at her incredulously. "He was making out with an artsy looking girl with medium length dark hair"

"I'm going to kill him." It was unbelievable that Gavroche thought it was ok for him to make out with a different girl every day.

She stood up, with every intention of stalking off to Kennedy and murdering her brother, but Enjolras grabbed her arm, right on a fresh bruise. She couldn't help herself. She let off a cry of pain.

"Funny thing, isn't it? To be wearing sunglasses indoors" Enjolras remarked in a not-so-subtle way.

She glared at him. Then, she sat down, and slowly pulled off her glasses.

He gaped at her. Either Gavroche hadn't told him or he hadn't guessed how bad it was. Either way, he hadn't been prepared for the sight of Eponine's black and purple eye.

She smirked at him. "Not what you were expecting?"

Enjolras looked deeply shaken. "No" he said, staring down at the green-striped upholstery of the sofa.

They sat in silence. Eponine didn't know what to say or do. No one had ever, EVER confronted her about this, not even Azelma or Gavroche. It was always an off-limits subject.

Finally, Enjolras spoke. "Who's doing it?"

Shit. The one question there was no way she could answer. If she told him the truth, he would call social services, and that was a million times worse than living with her parents.

Yet, against her better judgment, she found herself admitting "My father."

Enjolras looked horrified. He had been raised in a different world, a world where parents and children loved each other and this sort of thing never happened. _It would be nice to live in that world, _Eponine thought.

"How long?" Enjolras asked, looking angry now.

"Since I was around ten." Eponine said quietly.

Enjolras closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he opened them again. "Oh God, Eponine, I'm so sorry, I can call someone-"

"NO!" Eponine shrieked

Enjolras looked startled. "What?"

Eponine's heart was racing, she had to stop Enjolras. "You can't call social services, it will make things worse."

Enjolras sighed. He gave her a patronizing look. "Eponine, listen,"

She cut him off. "No, you look Enjy. I know that you live in pretty little rich boy land, but not all of us do, and you need to stay on your side of the sandbox, or I swear to God, I will tell everyone you know about Homecoming. Your parents, Mr. Javert, Sara, everyone."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh yes," Eponine said coldly, "I would. So, here's the deal. I'll keep quiet about Homecoming, and you will keep quiet about my problems at home, understand?"

Enjolras nodded, looking nothing short of terrified.

Eponine smiled. "I won't be seeing you."

She set down her mug, swung her bag over her shoulder, put her sunglasses back on, and left, not looking back.

She walked into the enormous bookstore across the street, walking to the corner where the history books were stored. The section was mercifully empty, and she was on her own. It was then that she allowed herself to break down into sobs. For once though, it wasn't Marius she wanted to come to her, but Enjolras. As she sat amid books on nineteenth century Europe, she wished that Enjolras would come and sit with her. But of course he didn't.

She was on her own.

**I'm sorry that this chapter was really depressing; I'll post a happier chapter either tonight or tomorrow. Don't forget to review. **


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm sorry the last chapter was so sad. This is totally a filler, but I felt like the tone of the last chapter should be lightened. Please review! Everyone who reviews gets a major hint about what's coming next! And trust, me, it's HUGE!**

Several hours and a gallon of tears later, Eponine left the bookstore, sunglasses back in place. She got onto the bus, using everything she had in her to hold back tears.

Once she got to Kennedy, sure enough, Gavroche was making out with a brunette who was wearing a Van Gogh T-shirt, paint splattered jeans, and knee-high combat boots.

This time, she completely lost it. She ran to him, grabbed his arm and forcibly dragged him away from the girl.

"OH MY GOD!" She screamed "What the HELL is YOUR PROBLEM? It is not ok for you to MAKE OUT with every girl you see!"

Gavroche looked bored. "PMS much?"

"OH MY GOD!" when had Gavroche gotten this much attitude? She grabbed his arm and dragged him away from his gapping friends.

"Seriously?" Gavroche asked

"Ok, so 1) why did you tell Enjolras where I was, and 2) Why, for the love of God, can you not stick with one girl for longer than a week?"

Gavroche looked up at her, pushing his dirty blond hair out of his blue eyes. "Well, first off, considering what you were like in middle school, you have no right to lecture me."

Eponine flushed. Desperate to impress Marius, throughout middle school, she had been a full-blooded whore, wearing ridiculously low cut tops, insanely tight skirts, and going through countless boys in the hopes of making him jealous. After eighth grade, however, Marius had met Cosette, and Eponine had given up on trying to impress him, becoming the invisible blender she was today.

"And secondly," Gavroche continued "I told Enjolras where you were because everyone is really worried about you."

"Who's we?" Eponine asked suspiciously

"You know me and Azelma." Eponine raised an eyebrow. Gavroche, her silly, happy-go-lucky brother, was worried about her? This was strange to say the least.

Gavroche, seeing the eyebrow, was quick to explain. "It's just what with what's going on with dad, your acting really depressed. I know you don't want to talk about it with me and Zelma, because you feel like you have to shield us, so we were hoping Enjy would be able to get through to you to spill. Besides, you're so hung up on Potmercy; you've forgotten how to have fun."

Eponine gasped. How the hell did Gavroche know about?

Gavroche laughed. "Eponine, did you really think you're that covert? Everyone knows!"

Eponine's eyes widened in horror. Everyone knows? Did Azelma know? Did Grantaire know? Did all the girls Gavroche made out with know? Oh dear lord, did _Marius _know?

Gavroche, seeing the expression on her face, smiled. "Relax. Ok, I just meant Jason, Stephan and the rest of those guys. Potmercy doesn't have a clue though."

Eponine breathed a sigh of relief. Marius didn't know.

Instinctively, she crushed her brother in a bear hug. "'Ponine, get off you're crushing me!" he complained.

Eponine laughed and released him. "Come on," she said, "Let's go, we can go to the park before we have to go home."

"Nah," Gavroche said laughing "Don't you want to go to the café? _Marius _will be there."

"Shut up. We are not going to the café because if I see Azelma and Grantaire together, I will throw up."

Gavroche made a face. "I know. That's so disgusting!"

Eponine smiled her first natural smile in what felt like millennia. "Come on squirt, let's go to the park, I can work on my tan, and you can find a girl to pick up."


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, as always. I'm really sorry that this is another filler, but there is an enormous plot twist coming up next chapter, and I needed to set it up. Reviews are always appreciated. **

The next Monday, Joly walked over to the table, set down his tray of disgusting fish tacos next to Bella's salad, and said "Party at Potmercy's this Friday. All of you are invited. His parents are going out of town, so everyone is coming over."

Rita took a bite of the apple she had stolen from Hanna's tray. "So, are you guys practicing for when you guys are all in frats?"

Jolly laughed. "No, it's nothing like that, just a couple of us hanging out."

"Who is this we you speak of?" Hanna asked, trying to constrain her giggles.

"Just you know, me, Potmercy, Jason, Gus, the usual suspects."

"Is Blondie coming?" Gayle asked, jerking her head in Cosette's direction

"Of course." Was Joly's reply. But the rest of them aren't, they're all still pissed at Enjy for dumping Sara."

"Don't care," was Rita's response, "If Blondie's there, I'm not coming."

The rest of them chimed in their responses. Eponine had been sold the second she heard that Marius was going to be there. Bella of course said yes. Hanna agreed so that she could make Courfeyrac jealous, and after nagging from the others, Gayle and Angie had agreed.

However, come Friday night, when Eponine hoped out of the side door of Angie's car (Being the most responsible, she was the designated driver), wearing a short black dress with Hanna's army jacket on top to conceal her bruises, (thanks to a diligent ice routine, her black eye had faded), she had to resist the urge to run as far away from Marius's big stately mansion as was humanly possible. But, if she did that, it would be conclusive proof of her love for Marius, and that simply would not do. Besides, Angie and Gayle had insisted on plastering her face with makeup, and there was no way she could go home looking like that.

Just then, Jolly's car (Eponine had zero interest in cars, so she had no idea what kind it was) pulled up, and Bella popped out of the passenger side door.

"Hi guys!" she said brightly.

Everyone chorused their hellos. After Jolly parked the car and joined them, the six of them headed up the austere path that lead through the impeccable front garden to the extravagant front door.

Jolly knocked. Courfeyrac's suspicious voice called out "Who calls?"

Eponine stifled a giggle. Joly replied, "Grocery delivery."

Courfeyrac opened the door. He was dressed in jeans and a white tee-shirt, and, after seeing that Hanna was among them, made a big show of running his fingers through his dark brown hair. "Hey guys, come in,"

And then, he actually grabbed Angie's hand, and started walking down the hall with her. _Stephan Courfeyrac _was walking ANGELA ROBETS down the hall, leaving the rest of them to follow. This led Hanna to whisper a very nasty word. Gayle rolled her eyes, and made a _let it go_ motion in Hanna's direction, and moved to follow Courfeyrac.

The hallway led to a spacious living room, with a gourmet kitchen not far off. It was furnished elegantly, and the sofa on which Marius and Cosette were nestled on probably cost more than the entire net worth of the Thenardier's apartment. Also in the room was Grantaire, Enjolras, a boy named Caden Combeferre, and, snuggled next to Grantaire, her sister, Azelma.

Eponine didn't feel the need to kill her sister, because for one thing, with Cosette there, she needed all the allies she could get, and for another thing, her sister was wearing actual clothes tonight, unlike at Homecoming.

Angie was sitting on the floor, with Courfeyrac's arm around her waist, looking reasonably happy, if a little uncomfortable. When Hanna saw this, she immediately sidled up to Combeferre, and batted her eyelashes. Eponine sat on the floor next to Gayle, her back against the pale blue sofa on which her sister and Grantaire were nestled.

Then, the last person she expected to be at this particular party walked through the door. That's right; Gavroche was walking through the door, his hand around the wrist of the artsy girl he had been making out with last week.

"'Ello!" he called out. "Everyone this is Sophia. Sophia, you'll learn everyone's names soon enough."

Eponine sighed, burying her face in her hands. It was too much.

"Ok," Marius said, getting up off of the sofa and crossing to a mahogany cabinet in the corner. He pushed some buttons, and Eponine prepared to be berated by horrible pop music, Justin Beiber, or perhaps One Direction, the type of music Cosette and her friends listened to. Instead, she was greeted by the dulcet tones of Nirvana.

"Ooooh yeah, now it's a party!" Grantaire called out. Marius ran out of the room, and returned moments later holding a bottle of scotch, and Courfeyrac grabbed glasses from the glass-fronted cabinet that stood along one of the walls. As Marius pored, Cosette stood up and began to dance. Jolly and Bella quickly followed suit. When Enjolras passed her a glass, Eponine happily accepted. When she turned and saw Azelma drinking, she sighed but didn't say anything, but when Gavroche reached for a glass, she put her foot down.

"OH NO YOU DON'T" she yelled, snatching the glass from him.

"Oh, looks like 'Vroche is busted" Combeferre laughed.

"Seriously, 'Ponine" Gavroche asked, looking angry.

"Yes, Gavroche, I am serious. You are incredibly lucky that I'm letting you stay here, but you are not drinking. Not on my watch. Not you either Sophia" she added, snapping at the girl who was reaching for the glass she had denied Gavroche.

"Jackson Pollock," the girl said defiantly, "was a heavy drinker."

"Yeah," Enjolras said, coming over and taking the glass, "And he died of it, so excuse me for not bowing down at your feet."

The party progressed, Eponine's mind becoming hazier and hazier. At around 11:00, however, after witnessing a very drunk Hanna making out with Combeferre, Courfeyrac stood up, and asked, very loudly, "So who wants to play spin the bottle?"

**You all probably think you know where this is going, but as there is only one person I have confided in, I can guarantee that you do not. So, drop a review, and you get a major sneak peak about a chapter that will be posted within the next few days.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I wasn't going to post this until a couple of days from now, but I can't stay away from this story. ** **This chapter is dedicated to the twelve people who wrote some of the kindest reviews ever! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I spent a really long time thinking about this, and I really hope you can take a couple of seconds to tell you what you think. Also, there is a poll on my profile that if you liked the story, I would really appreciate you taking it. Sorry about the really long A/N.**

Spin the bottle? _Really?_ Eponine felt like she was in seventh grade all over again, and all of her instincts told her to run away as fast as humanly possible. Unfortunately, in this case, there was no way she could do this without seeming like a social freak, and with Marius around, being a social freak was not an option. Everyone else nodded in agreement with Courfeyrac's proposal formed into a circle on the floor. Gayle sat down next to her. "I can't deal with this sober," she whispered, reaching for the bottle of scotch and refilling both Eponine's glass and her own.

Combeferre grabbed the bottle that someone had placed in the middle of the circle, and gave it a spin. It landed on Angie, who sighed in exasperation. She leaned in a planted a quick kiss on his lips, than pulled away. Everyone shouted "Oooooh!"

"That doesn't count!" Courfeyrac slurred, "Get some tongue in there!"

Angie walked over to him and slapped him across the face.

"I think he's right!" Gayle teased. Everyone chimed in encouragement, and finally Angie threw her hands in the air and said

"I hate all of you."

She walked over to Combeferre, and the two of them kissed, (quite passionately) for about a minute. After that, Angie pulled away and walked back to her spot across the circle, trying to look bored, but not entirely concealing the flush that was creeping across her face. The game continued. Bella and Grantaire, Gavroche and Gayle, Sophia and Courfeyrac (afterwards Sophia had made a big production of pretending to puke), and Cosette and Enjolras, which was the funniest thing, because both of them looked so incredibly bored, just sitting there with their lips lightly touching for the required minute.

Eponine was having such a great time that she didn't even notice that it was Marius's turn to spin the bottle, and that it was pointing straight at her.

Ho-ly Shit! Eponine had dreamed of this moment every night since the seventh grade. Of course in her version, the two of them were on a dark street, preferably while it was raining, with the pavements shining like silver and all of that. In his living room, surrounded by people, (two of which were her siblings) was the absolute last place she would have expected, yet here she was, with Marius's warm, smooth lips pressed up against hers, and she was in heaven.

But, all too soon, it was over, and Marius was back in the clutches of that blond, monstrous, blond, _thing._

They decided that everyone would just spend the night here, because it was past curfew, and Angie, who was the only one in any fit state to drive, wasn't old-enough looking to pull off driving that late.

Marius, Enjolras, and Courfeyrac went upstairs and dragged down sleeping bags. Cosette had to leave at midnight, however, because her father had given her a strict curfew, and she was far too much a goody-goody to break curfew.

Eponine stretched out, the sleeping bag, which was an incredibly expensive down one, was extremely comfortable. Next to her, Angie was curled up, with Combeferre suspiciously close to her. Someone laid out next to Eponine, and when she looked up, her heart started beating a million beats per minute. Marius. Despite that, she couldn't shake off the look that Enjolras was giving her from across the room. The look was almost, angry.

**Sorry that this was short, but I hope you guys are all suitably confused. Next chapter, however, everything will become clear.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you so much for all of your AMAZING reviews. I'm sorry if I didn't personally respond to your review, I'm trying the best I can. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to review. Remember about that poll on my profile!**

Eponine was insanely happy. Maybe it was just the alcohol, but it was probably the fact that she was with Marius, far away from the prying eyes of Cosette, and even farther away from her father.

The party had gone on for some time of course. They had played truth or dare for a while, but nothing particularly exciting happened.

After a while, however, the alcohol had made them all drowsy, and one by one they had drifted off to sleep.

Around three however, Eponine woke with a start. She felt insanely nauseated. She had slipped off her coat in the night, and hurriedly threw it back one to cover her bruises. As fast as she could without waking anyone, she looked through all the rooms on the ground floor, searching for a bathroom. She found a pantry, a couple of living rooms, a library, (into which Bella and Jolly had dragged there sleeping bags for privacy), and a number of closets, but no bathrooms. _Why would anyone think that was a good idea to arrange a house?_

She could feel her stomach churn. She sprinted up the plushy carpeted stairs, and wrenched open the first door she found, which, fortunately, was a spacious bathroom.

She reached the toilet just in time. No sooner had she collapsed in front of it, had she begun to wretch. That's when she realized how much she had drunk last night. She felt it all coming right back up. In fact, it felt like every bite of food she had ever eaten come up out of her esophagus.

"'Ponine?" a familiar voice asked. Of course it was Marius. And she was covered in vomit.

Eponine groaned and stretched out across the tile floor. _Fear god above, please let an asteroid fall out of the sky and kill me now._

"Are you ok?"

She rolled over and glared at him.

"Ok, stupid question" he admitted, "Well, you can shower, if you'd like, and, uh, I can get you some normal clothes. They won't fit you, but they'll be clean."

Eponine probably would have swooned, but she was already lying on the floor. "Thanks" she choked out.

Marius disappeared, returning a minute later with a bundle of clothes.

"Um, I'll see you later," he muttered walking awkwardly out of the bathroom.

The shower was the nicest Eponine had ever been in. It had actual hot water, not the lukewarm stuff that she was used to at home. There was actual water pressure too. She stayed in for longer than was strictly necessary, enjoying the feeling of the hot water on her skin.

After drying off, she pulled on the clothes that Marius had lent her. The jeans were about 8 sizes too big, but she rolled them up. Then, she shrugged into his MGHS football sweatshirt that Cosette often wore in order to flaunt the fact that she was dating Marius. She found a comb in one of the drawers and worked through the knots in her hair. Though it wasn't as flawless as Cosette's, she was satisfied with the end result.

She was about to tiptoe back down the stairs, when she heard Marius call out, "Hey, Eponine!"

She turned around. He was sitting on a sofa in a room just a little bit down the hall. "Hey," she said crossing over to where he was. It was a small, cozy room full of over-stuffed furniture. Several paintings hung on the walls, and freestanding stacks of books cluttered the floor.

She sat down next to Marius. "What's up?"

"It's complicated." Marius said simply, his head buried in his hands. Then, he looked up, and looked at her. That look almost pierced her to the depths of her soul.

Then he was kissing her. It was nothing like the one at spin the bottle. This one started out soft, like he was tentative, unsure of whether or not she was interested. Then, though, it turned fiery, deep and passionate. Eponine didn't care about anything else, so long as this moment could last forever. She had no idea how long it lasted. It could have been half an hour, or half a decade. Heaven was on earth. A gasp came from the doorway.

Enjolras was standing in the doorway, a look that looked suspiciously like anger on his face. The two broke apart.

Marius said, "Jason, you can't tell anyone."

Enjolras nodded, and walked out of the room, very quickly, sort of slamming the door as he did so.

Eponine turned to Marius. Part of her wanted to continue kissing him forever, but she restrained herself.

"What was that?" she demanded of him.

Marius turned red, "I don't know, it was like, instinctive. 'Ponine, I know you're going to think that you are the biggest jerk in the history of the world, but, well, Cosette and I have a lot of issues, and well, I don't know."

"You," Eponine said certainly, "are not a jerk."

"I really am though." He said sadly. "I just cheated on my girlfriend if two years, and I don't even feel bad about it."

Eponine reached out and took his hand, something she would never do on ordinary circumstances, but well, this was anything but ordinary. "Look," she began

"No," he cut her off, "'Ponine, let me talk to Cosette. Whatever happens though, I do like you. A lot. Now, we probably need to go downstairs, or everyone will wonder where we are."

Eponine smiled at him, and the two of them went downstairs, side by side.

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur, Eponine reliving that kiss over and over again. All she wanted was for it to happen again, though for some reason, the look on Enjolras's face when he had seen them making out kept reappearing in her mind.

On Monday at school, however, in between Art and Bio, Mara Collins, who was on the soccer team with Angie and was a pretty close friend of Eponine's, came running down the hall, screaming out Eponine's name.

Eponine slammed her locker closed and ran to Mara. "What's wrong?" Mara wasn't one of those over-dramatic girls, if she was screaming, something was seriously wrong. "Potmercy and Enjolras," she whispered in terror, "they're fighting!"


	15. Chapter 15

**I am really sorry I didn't post last night. As always thank you to everyone who reviewed. This chapter is dedicated to an incredibly smart friend of mine, who, when I was complaining to her about how badly my writing was going, told me "Then get a clean page and write something else. Don't forget to review!**

"WHAT?" Eponine shrieked. Enjolras and Marius? Enjolras and Marius were best friends, complete opposites, but always, ALWAYS, on the same side.

"It was crazy!" Hanna said, running up to join them.

"Totally insane!" Rita added, walking up alongside her. "One minute, they're just talking like normal, then Marius goes and punches Enjolras in the face!"

"WHY?" Eponine asked, still incredulous.

"Wait, you didn't hear?" Mara asked, the smirk on her face disappearing.

"What didn't I hear?" Eponine asked inquisitorially.

All three of them looked uncomfortable.

"WHAT DIDN'T I HEAR?" she screamed.

Mara looked uncomfortable. "Uh, well, Jolly, uh, told me that, uh, the fight was about you."

It was twenty minutes before Eponine stopped hyperventilating.

The four of them had ditched their third period classes, and were sitting in a stairway leading up to the fourth floor that led up to the room. No one ever went up there, so they were reasonably safe from being discovered.

When the air finally returned to her lungs, she asked, "What?" all softly. She was in a state of shock. There was no way. Mara had to have heard wrong. She was not the sort of girl that guys got into fights over, like Cosette, or Alexi Wolf.

"Well," Rita said, reverting back to her normal, blunt, Rita way of speaking. "Enjolras and Cosette are both pissed because you made out with Marius.

"Wait. WHAT?" Mara shrieked.

"Oi, keep it down. The last thing we want is Mr. Javert finding us up here. You know, before he taught here, he was the security guard for like twenty years. He's bat-shit crazy. If he found us up here-"

"Rita!" Hanna snapped. "So NOT the time!"

Mara slid onto the cold, linoleum floor. "Did you really make out with Marius?"

Eponine said, quietly, "Yes." Mara looked at her, asking a silent question. When?

"At his party Friday night. Or, early Saturday morning, if you want to be technical about it. Like one second, we were talking like normal, and then..." she trailed off. She didn't want to share those glorious moments with Marius, not with anyone, even her best friends. No one could, ever take those away.

"How the hell did Cosette find out?" Hanna asked.

"I think she probably has a little gadget she keeps in her cleavage that buzzes every time Marius talks to another girl. When he started kissing you, it probably lept out of her bra and and started yelling "Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert"" Everyone laughed.

"What I don't get," Mara said, after the laughter subsided. "Is why it would bother Enjolras. I mean, all he ever thinks about is his love for America. He's never even had a girlfriend."

"Yeah," Hanna agreed "like, he never even looks at girls. I think he's a cyborg, trying to infiltrate the human race."

"Such a waste." Rita sighed.

"Why would he fight Marius?" Eponine wondered aloud.

"Maybe he's in _love_ with you, 'Ponine."

"Shut up!" Eponine retorted "He is NOT!"

"I don't know if he's in love with you, 'Ponine," Mara said, "But, according to Joly, Enjolras saw you two, and he doesn't think it's "morally right," or some shit like that, for him to be making out with you, not telling Cosette, and acting like nothing happened."

Eponine gasped. "Was HE the one who told Cosette?" As she said it, she knew it was true. She had threatened him, and this was his revenge.

"Ladies, please excuse me," she said, standing up and moving towards the door, "I have a football captain to murder."


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm sorry that I didn't post last night. This chapter is sort of an add-on to Chapter 15, and it's sort of short and a filler chapter, but the next few chapters will be nice and long. Please Review the more reviews I get, the faster I write.**

When Eponine stalked out of the stairwell, she had every intention of hurling Enjolras out of a fourth story window.

Eponine had only been in the hallway for thirty seconds when the bell rang, signaling that third period was over. Wow, that had gone by fast.

She needed to find Enjolras. Then, she needed to kill him. She grabbed the arm of Jenna Proch, who was friends with Bella, where Enjolras was.

"Um, I think he's like, by Ms. Geovango's pre-calc room, but-"

But Eponine was already gone.

Unfortunately, she was deterred by the plastics. She was almost to the pre-calc room, where she had never been before, (she had always been in grade-level math, barley).

"Hello, 'Ponine" Cece said in a would-be-friendly tone, moving to block her path. Mandy, Lucy and Sara approached on both sides, forming a sort of barricade.

"Hi" Eponine said, trying to step around them, but Mandy moved to block her.

"Have you seen Cosette?" Lucy asked innocently.

"No," Eponine said slowly

"Oh yeah," Lucy said, switching to a matter-of-fact voice, "That's because she's in the second floor bathroom, crying her eyes out, because you made out with her boyfriend."

Eponine experienced a brief feeling of triumph. Then, however, she felt guilty. She knew what it was like to watch someone you love kiss someone else, and she wouldn't wish that on anyone. Even Cosette.

"Oh," was all she could think of to say. She moved to step around them again, and this time, they let her pass.

"Oh, and Eponine," Mandy added sweetly. "You should know, Marius will never date you. He's not into skanky trash." The four of them laughed, than flounced off.

_Bitches. _Eponine thought savagely. She was tempted to just go off somewhere to contemplate what had just happened, but then, she saw the blond guy coming up the stairs at the end of the hall, and she was reminded of her purpose.

She stalked towards him, anger bubbling in her stomach.

"Hey, 'Ponine," he said casually, as if merely an hour ago, he hadn't been savagely fighting with his best friend.

"We need to talk." She said coldly.

"Then talk," he challenged playfully. _Boys_, Eponine thought. Were all of them clueless idiots?

"In private." She said, giving him her best evil death glare, a trick she had learned from Rita.

For someone who had always been academically serious, Enjolras seemed to have no problem with blowing off pre-calc, even though, by all accounts, that class was really hard.

They ended up back in the stairwell, which thankfully, Mara, Rita, and Hanna had vacated.

"What the HELL is you PROBLEM!" she shrieked as soon as soon as he had closed the door.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, looking genuinely confused.

"Oh yes you do!" she said, hoping that she sounded as ice-cold menacing as she intended.

Comprehension dawned across his face. "It seemed appropriate." He said frostily.

"NO IT WAS NOT APPROPRIATE!" she yelled.

"I disagree." He said, completely unfazed by her yelling.

"WHY! Do you hate Marius, or Cosette, or-"

But she was interrupted by Enjolras's lips on hers.


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm sorry it's been a while since I last posted. It's ski season, so I was taking advantage. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, my heart goes out to all of you! I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's the first one in a while that hasn't been a filler. PLEASE REVIEW!**

Eponine couldn't think. Thoughts of Marius were impossible to form clearly. It was like Enjolras's lips had cast some sort of spell on her, slowing down the neurons of her brain, so that all she could focus on was him.

It was electrifying. Everything about that kiss made her feel alive. His lips were cold at first, but warmed up after a couple of minutes.

A small part of her brain knew that this was wrong, that it made no sense that it would surely lead to trouble, but the majority of her brain was tuning it out, focusing instead on the way his lips felt on hers, and on his hands, one on her waist, the other entangled in her hair.

Every time she tried to pull away, to think of Marius, his lips would invite her back, and she dove into the kiss again.

It was the voices that made them pull apart. They were coming from the hall. Someone was coming up the stairs. Enjolras put a hand over Eponine's lips, and pushed open the hatch in the roof that led to a narrow crawl space.

He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. He quickly followed, closing the hatch just as the door opened.

"Holy shit, dude, bitches are crazy." The sound of Grantaire's voice filled the room.

Eponine, who was lying on the dusty floor of a crawl space, much closer to Enjolras then she would like, (Or would she? It was all so confusing.), was horrified. Of all the people, it was Gus Grantaire. And if he was here, who else was?

"Oh my God," a familiar voice groaned.

Shit. Marius Pontmercy, her one true love, was in the stairwell, and she was directly above him, and crammed in next to his alleged best friend.

"She went bat-shit crazy on me." Marius groaned. "I tried to apologize, and she threw the diamond necklace I got her for her birthday at me."

"Oh lord." Courfeyrac said in an awed tone of voice. "You win for worst breakup ever."

"No," Joly said. "When I dumped Lena in eighth grade, she dumped a gallon of acrylic paint on my head, and posted some really embarrassing things on the internet. Then, she got her entire group to freeze me out, and almost ruined my relationship with Bella."

"Cosette threw a thousand dollar necklace at me, and her entire friend group is going to freeze us out."

"Oh, what a tragic loss." Combeferre said sarcastically. "I'm so going to miss those deep conversations about nail polish and Harry Style's hair."

"What's important," Courfeyrac said earnestly "Is, have you talked to Eponine yet?"

"Yeah," Grantaire slurred. Eponine was prepared to bet all of her life savings, ($50.13) that he was drinking. "She's hot."

Eponine felt oddly flattered.

"No," Marius sounded dejected. "I've been looking for her, but because of stupid Jason, I haven't been able to find her. Javert made me go to the dean's office because of the fight.

Shit. Eponine thought. She tried to scoot away from Enjolras, but there wasn't enough room.

"I'm still confused. What the hell happened?" asked Courfeyrac.

"Well, Marius said slowly, "So, I'm trying to explain to Enjolras the entire Eponine nightmare, and then he said (and here he did a perfectly accurate Enjolras impression) you man-whore." Then, well, I punched him. It was totally friendly. Then, I said I was going to ask out Eponine, and then he hit me like for real."

"God," Combeferre said, in a dead serious voice. "We're all going to be sucked into a pit of drama. Yay."

"Anyway, though, I've been thinking,"

"A dangerous pastime," Grantaire commented

"Shut up. Anyway, I really think I want to get together with 'Ponine. I need a more low-key relationship, with someone less high maintenance. 'Ponine is smart, and funny, and I won't have to listen to Beiber to hang out with her."

"I think you should go for it." Joly said. "And then, we need to get Jason a girlfriend, because he's starting to get really irritating."

"I hope she'll say yes." Marius said, "I've treated her like shit for years."

Eponine flushed with pleasure.

Just then the bell rang, and the boys shuffled out of the room. She waited a second, than dropped out of the ceiling. Her mind was still reeling from the revelation about the fight.

She looked back at Enjolras, who was still lying on the ceiling, looking like he had no desire ever to get up.

"This never happened." She said. Then she left, to go find Marius.


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm really sorry about how long this took to post. If you are in any way a fan of Marius or Meponine, I highly recommend that you totally skip over this chapter. You guys are all going to hate me for this chapter, but bear with me, it will get better. Please review, it makes me so happy, and when I'm happy, I write faster.**

For the next two weeks, Eponine was on cloud nine. All of her dreams had come true, and nothing was wrong.

Every Monday morning, Marius met her on the front steps, and they would walk together to Mr. Javert's classroom. They sat together at lunch, and then after school, they walked to the ABC café, where the rest of their friends, as well as Gavroche and Sophia (who had stayed together for two weeks now, a personal record for him.), and they would all hang out for a while, and then the two of them would go on some sort of date, either to a movie, or dinner, or whatever, and end the night with an amazing make out session.

Everything was falling into place. Hanna and Courfeyrac had worked out their differences, Joly and Bella were still going steady, and to everyone's surprise, Angie and Combeferre had finally admitted to having feelings for each other. So much was going right that Eponine found it quite easy to keep Enjolras out of mind.

A big part of it was that Enjolras was never around. He had taken to eating lunch is his AP law classroom, working on some project, and he hadn't come to the café since Marius and Eponine had gotten together. Not that anyone else had noticed the connection. No one seemed to know what had happened in that stairwell, and as Enjolras hadn't so much as glanced her way in weeks, she assumed she was safe.

For the first time in her life, Eponine felt safe, secure and comfortable.

That Saturday night, the two of them were set for a date to celebrate their two week anniversary. He hadn't told her where they were going, (it was a big "surprise"), but he had told her to meet him at his house at six.

At five to six, Eponine stood in front of his front door. For the last few weeks, she had put a lot more effort into her appearance than usual, and tonight even more so.

She was wearing a short white dress she had borrowed from Bella that showed off her tanned skin. She had spent almost an hour on her hair, and had even brushed some mascara onto her lashes, and shiny gloss onto her lips.

Confidently, she knocked. There was no answer. This wasn't really a surprise, as Mr. and Mrs. Pontmercy were rarely at home, and the house was so big that it was almost impossible to hear the front door from the upper floors. She was a little bit early; he was probably still upstairs getting ready.

She twisted the handle, and found that it was open. She pulled it open, stepping into the entry way.

"Marius?" she called out

There was no response. She was starting to feel nervous. He had defiantly told her six, where was he? He was probably upstairs. Maybe he had music on or something.

Quietly, she went upstairs. The door to Marius's room was open. That was when she realized why he hadn't answered the door. He was _otherwise _engaged.

For a minute, she felt like she was going to pass out. Her stomach lurched, and her legs caved in from under her, and she was forced to cling to the doorframe in order to remain upright.

Marius was lying on his bed, shirtless, with his hand up the shirt of a familiar blond girl, kissing her passionately.

A little shriek came out of her throat, and the two broke apart. When Marius saw her, his face palled. Cosette turned the color of a tomato, and ran right past Eponine, out the door, and probably out of the house.

"'Ponine, it's not as bad as it looks," he said pleadingly. He reached out to touch her arm, but she yanked it away as if he had burned her.

Which, in a way, he had.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed in a high-pitched, hysterical voice.

She grabbed a book from a nearby shelf, and flung it at him with all the force she could muster. It hit him squarely in the chest with a satisfying _thunk! _

She then turned, and ran, as fast as her thin legs would carry her, out of the house, ignoring Marius's desperate calls after her.

She was at the end of the block before she stopped, and then sobs began to rack her body. _It's over. _She thought. _My life is over. _

**I'm sorry that this chapter is short, but the next one will be up tomorrow at the latest. Don't forget to review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**So, yeah, everyone hated the last chapter. I did too, but I spent almost a week trying to find an alternate way to continue the story, but there WAS NO POSSIBLE WAY. Not enough Enjy in this chapter, but in the next one, I promise there will be lots of E/E goodness. Don't forget to review!**

Nearly three weeks passed. If anything significant happened, Eponine didn't notice. Every day, she woke up, brought her siblings to school, and sat in the back of every classroom, speaking only when directly spoken too, spending lunchtime in the library to avoid everyone. She hadn't spoken to her friends in weeks. She couldn't look at anyone, too embarrassed at how stupid she had been. After school, she picked up Gavroche, only half noticing the six different girls he had "dated" over the past few weeks. At night, she did her homework quietly, taking her father's slaps and kicks stoically.

She couldn't sleep. In the few hours she managed to snag, she was plagued by nightmares. She had shadows under her eyes a mile deep.

Eponine could feel herself turn into a zombie, but she couldn't bring herself to care. It just didn't matter. All she wanted was to be left alone.

The only problem with this plan was that Gavroche wasn't going along with it.

Every night, he came into her room, and talked to her, supplying an endless supply of details about his incomprehensibly silly middle school existence. It was insanely tedious.

So, at five o'clock Monday evening, when someone knocked, she assumed it was Gavroche (though knocking was quite unusual for him, he usually just barged straight in)

"It opens." She said wearily.

"Eponine?" a timid voice said.

And then Cosette was coming into her room, her perfect appearance in sharp contrast with the dinginess of the apartment.

She sat down delicately on the edge of Eponine's bed. "Look, I just wanted to say how sorry I am about all of this. I just feel so bad. Marius really likes you, but it's just like, the two of us have so, much like, chemistry, and it's like impossible for us to like, stay away from each other, and-"

"Get out." Eponine interrupted, partly because if Cosette said "like" one more time, her head was going to explode, and partly because what Cosette was saying was the most bitchy, self-important thing that she had ever heard.

"But, I'm like, not done," Cosette simpered.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM!" Eponine screamed at the top of her lungs.

She had never yelled like that before. Never. But it worked. As Cosette began to slowly back out of her room, she grabbed her insanely heavy Chemistry book and hurled it at Cosette, who ducked.

Eponine distinctively heard her say "Bitch!" as she slammed her door shut.

The second Eponine heard the front door close, she yelled "GAVROCHE!"

Her brother walked in, lazily chomping on a stick of gum.

"Oh, hi 'Ponine, I thought I heard your dulcet tones."

"Why the HELL did you let Cosette in?" she demanded, her voice icy.

"Because, you've been like a zombie these past few weeks. It's kind of scary. You need to get over Pontmercy! I mean, it's never taken me more than a day to get over someone."

"It's never taken you more than a shower." Eponine said, rolling her eyes.

"Anyways," Gavroche continued, ignoring the shower comment, which, Eponine had to admit, had been a low blow. "You need your friends to help you."

Eponine sat up. "That bitch," she said, her voice slightly shaking, "Is not my friend."

"Well, I'll be sure not to let anyone else in." Gavroche said irately.

"Thanks 'Vroche" she said wearily.

Gavroche, it turned out, was the world's most shitty doorkeeper. The very next day, someone else knocked on the door. She made a mental note to murder her brother.

"If you're not a frontal lobotomy, then I don't want to hear from you!" She moaned, praying that her visitor would just go _away_.

But of course, it didn't work. When Eponine saw who it was, she wanted to curl under her covers and never ever get out.

It was Enjolras.


	20. Chapter 20

**As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. This chapter is mostly a fluff chapter, and this is my first attempt at ever writing fluff, so pardon me if it's terrible. PLEASE REVIEW!**

_Oh God, if you exist, please let a hole in the earth open up and swallow me whole. _Eponine prayed.

As if the last three weeks hadn't sucked enough. Now Enjolras was just going to make fun of her for falling for Marius's bullshit.

She closed her eyes, hoping that this would turn out to be a bad dream, and that she would wake up, and Enjolras would be gone.

Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes, Enjolras was still there, dressed in black jeans and his red MGHS varsity football jacket. She groaned and rolled over. "What do you want?" she mumbled into her pillow.

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you." He said in an exasperated tone.

"Go away." She said, her voice sounding dead, even to herself.

"No," he said in a matter-of-fact voice. "I'm not going anywhere."

This pissed Eponine off, and she actually sat up. "This is my house. I have no idea why you're here, or how you got in, but you are going to get out, because I have no intention of speaking to you ever again."

"Gavroche let me in." was his reply.

Eponine's blood boiled. "The weasel!" she hissed, leaping to her feet and racing towards the door, with every intention of ripping every single blond hair out of her brother's scalp.

She was almost out the door when Enjolras grabbed her wrist. She had lost so much weight over the last three weeks that he was able to encircle it using only his thumb and pinkie.

"Let me go!" she snapped, attempting to wrench herself free.

"Ponine, don't blame Gavroche. He's seriously worried about you. Everyone is."

Eponine laughed. "They are not. Everyone thinks that I'm a stupid, ugly, bitch, who tried to steal Marius from Cosette, but wasn't pretty enough to do it." Her momentary flash of anger subsided, and she felt a pain like someone had ripped a hole in her chest. She crumpled against the wall, fighting the urge to start bawling like a baby.

Enjolras released her wrist, and she sunk to the floor. She wrapped her skinny arms around her equally skinny legs.

She was suddenly freezing. Enjolras sank to the ground next to her, and noticing that she was shivering, pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around Eponine's shoulders.

"No one thinks that 'Ponine." Enjolras said in a soft voice. "Everyone thinks that Marius is a stupid asshole."

"Don't say that." Eponine said, tears prickling in her eyes, "It was my fault."

"How the HELL" Enjolras demanded, his eyes turning stormy, "is it your fault? In no way is it your fault that your boyfriend only dated you to piss off his best friend."

"That's not what happened!" Eponine said automatically. It had been what she had said every time Bella, or Angie, or Azelma, or whoever, tried to convince her that it hadn't been her fault. Then, she realized what Enjolras had just said.

"Wait, WHAT?"

"Do you seriously have no memory about what happened last month?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Not the point!" she said. She couldn't believe that he was bringing _that _up.

"Actually, it's exactly the point." Enjolras said calmly, "I told Marius that I like you."

"WHAT?" Eponine shrieked. She had suspected, subconsciously, that Enjolras liked her. The whole, him-randomly-kissing-her thing was a pretty good indication. But she had never really heard anyone state it so... matter-of-fact.

Enjolras gave her a _well duh _face. "Anyway, he took it all weirdly. Next thing I know, he's sucking face with you at the party. Seriously. He's been all over Cosette for two years, but then I say I'm interested in you, and suddenly, he's in to you."

"Oh my god." Eponine said faintly.

"And then, well, I was pissed. I figured that he would go scampering back to Cosette the way he always does, so I told Cosette what happened, and naturally she flipped a bitch. But I'm still really pitched because what Marius did so breaks the rules."

"What rules?" Eponine interjected.

"The unspoken rules that guys follow as far as girls are concerned. You don't hook up with someone that one of your friends likes. Anyway, when I told Marius about how pissed I was, he punched me. Then he said, and I quote, "You never had a prayer. She loves me." Also, he totally lied about the fight to everyone, and made it seem like I was the freak."

"Why would he do that?" Eponine asked quietly.

"Who the hell knows?" Enjolras responded.

Eponine closed her eyes, trying to take it all in. It was too much. But then, a silent film started playing before her eyes. She saw Enjolras sitting in front of her in Chemistry, leaning back and talking to her. She saw him ditching class to come and make sure she was all right. She saw the look on his face after witnessing her kissing Marius. And again and again, she saw Enjolras kissing her in the stairwell.

Enjolras had been a better friend then Marius had ever been a million times over. And, when she searched her heart, she found deep feelings for the blond football captain.

When she opened her eyes, Enjolras face was inches from her own.

And then they were kissing. Kissing in a way that blew every kiss she had shared with Marius out of the water. It was slow and tender, yet deep and passionately. She could have stayed that way forever, if Gavroche hadn't run in.

Reluctantly, Eponine pulled her face away from Enjolras's.

One look at her brother's face told her that something was wrong. He was flushed, out of breath, and when he saw Enjolras, a look of terror crossed his face.

"Enjolras," he gasped, his eyes darting madly around the room, "You need to get out of here." He looked directly at Eponine. "It's papa!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks to everyone for your amazing reviews! I'm really sorry about how long it took me to post this, but it's a nice long chapter, so please forgive me. Updates will probably be less frequent for a while because I have some personal stuff I need to sort out, and I have to study for finals. Don't forget those reviews!**

Eponine leapt to her feet, panic flooding her body. Her father, here, now? What the hell had she done to deserve this? If her father found Enjolras here… she didn't even want to think about it.

"Come on," she said, grabbing Enjolras's wrist and dragging him to the window, which she pulled open, silently praising whomever had decided to place the fire escape outside her window.

She had used the fire escape several times before, to get her siblings out of the house when his father and the whole gang were drunk beyond reason. Of course, that had never been an option for her.

"No," Enjolras said, not moving towards the window.

"You have to. Now!" she said, not trying to disguise the fear in her voice. There was no point. Enjolras knew.

"He's going to hurt you 'Ponine" he said calmly.

"Probably." She said, trying to sound causal.

"I'm not going to let that happen,"

_This is not happening. _Eponine thought. Here they were, in the middle of a very serious situation, and he was going off on some sort of Y-chromosome, testosterone filed, _I have to protect you _thing.

"It'll be worse if he finds you, get the hell out. I'm fine."

Of course, she wasn't fine, but she had to get Enjolras out.

He was still hesitating.

Gavroche started bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Enjy, you need to go," he said earnestly.

Something about the look in Gavroche's eyes made Enjolras agree. He crossed to the windowsill and was halfway out before he grabbed something out of his pocket, and threw it towards Eponine, who instinctively caught it. It was a black cell phone.

"Call me later," he said, staring directly into her eyes.

She nodded, and he ducked out, not a second too soon, for barley had Eponine taken a breath when the door to the apartment opened, and she heard the noises of drunken men entering the apartment.

Half an hour later, Eponine was laying on her bed, with enormous bruises forming on her arms, stomach, and collarbone, along with a dozen angry lash marks on her back from her father's belt.

She felt like every inch of her body was burning. She had been hit many times in her fifteen years on this planet, but this one was by far the worst. The whole gang had been there, all of them drunk to the gills and already furious with her. From what Eponine had been able to grasp between the punches, kicks and thrashes, the cops had been waiting for them at a house they had been planning on robbing, and they had barely escaped. Apparently, they thought Eponine had ratted, which of course she hadn't. Explaining that to a rowdy, drunken gang, however, was impossible.

The room outside her bedroom had been silent for five minutes, (they had all left, presumably to go find more alcohol.).

"You can come out," she groaned.

Gavroche came out from the closet into which Eponine had shoved him the second she heard her father entering the apartment.

"'Ponine?" he asked quietly, "Are you all right?"

Eponine would have thrown something at him, but she felt like her arms might fall off if she did so. She groaned loudly though, which seemed to convey the message.

Gavroche sat down tentatively at the foot of her bed. "Do you want me to get you some ice?"

Eponine tried to nod, but her neck hurt too much. "Yes please," she choked out.

Gavroche was almost out the door, when he seemed to remember something. He crossed back to the closet, picked something up, and set it down beside Eponine.

It was Enjolras's cell phone. "You need to call him," Gavroche said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No," Eponine moaned. She really didn't want to talk to Enjolras right now. She knew he would go through all of that I-need-to-protect you shit, and she just couldn't take it right now.

"You need to call." Gavroche repeated.

"_You _have NEVER called any of your assorted girlfriends."

"Not the point," Gavroche said hurriedly. Seeing her face, he hastily added, "You don't have to talk that long, just call to let him know you're ok."

"Fine," Eponine grumbled. With great effort, she sat up, groaning as she did so. "And get that ice!" she snapped, and Gavroche scurried out of the room.

She picked up the phone. It was an old-fashioned flip phone, and dialed his home number.

The phone had barley started to ring when he picked up. Had he seriously been sitting next to the next to the phone, waiting for it to ring?

"'Ponine?" Enjolras asked, sounding insanely anxious. "Are you all right?"

Eponine hesitated. Saying _I've never felt shitier in my life_ would just freak Enjolras out, and she didn't need to have someone else worrying about her and her siblings, (she did enough of that one her own). On the other hand, if she said, _I'm totally fine, _Enjolras would know she was lying. She decided to keep it neutral. "I've been better," she said morosely.

This was apparently the wrong thing to say. "Oh my god, what happened?" he demanded, sounding both scared and angry.

"Don't worry about it," she said hastily, "It's nothing, and I'm fine."

On the other end of the line, she heard Enjolras sigh gustily. "Are you going to be at school tomorrow?"

Eponine would have laughed, but her ribcage hurt too much. There was no way she would be going to school tomorrow; she highly doubted whether she would be able to stand up tomorrow.

"No"

"Then could you meet me at the café?"

"No," she said, wishing the phone fairy would cut off the connection so that she could go to sleep.

"Ok, then I'll come over."

"NO!" she screamed.

"'Vroche told me that your parents are never home during the day." He said matter-of-factly.

Damn. Why did he always have to be logical and think things through? She didn't want to see Enjolras right now. It was just too embarrassing.

"You know," she said, trying to sound like she was teasing, "If you want to be an important lawyer or whatever, you've got to stop ditching class."

"You're more important," he replied, his voice eerily calm.

"You really don't have-OW!"

She had accidentally slammed her back into her headboard, hard, and her back was throbbing painfully.

Shit. Now he would be coming whether she liked it or not. "Have it our way," she said, trying to sound merely exasperated, not filled to the brim with dread.

"I'll be there." He replied steadily.

"Okay," she said dully, and hung up the phone.

Gavroche came back in, holding a large block of ice wrapped in a towel. He laid it gently on her back. At first the cold ice making contact with her flaming flesh burned at first, but slowly began to soothe.

An hour later, Eponine managed to nod off to sleep, Enjolras temporarily out of mind.

The next morning, Enjolras knocked on the door to her apartment, (her parents had left for "work" ha-ha) at nine.

"It opens." She yelled out. Why the hell did her parents never lock the door to the apartment?

He came into her room.

"Oh my God, 'Ponine," he said, his eyes sweeping over her. And he hadn't even seen her back. She hadn't looked in a mirror since her father's arrival the night before. She must look egregious.

He sat beside her on her bed. "Good God, what happened?"

Eponine sat up with great effort, and glared at him.

"Ok, stupid question." He admitted.

She felt the sudden urge to show him the full extent of her father's wrath.

"Please don't think I'm stripping in any sort of sexual context." she said as she pulled off her thin black tank top, leaving her only in her black sports bra.

Enjolras stared in horror at the lashes on her back. "Oh God, 'Ponine, I'm so sorry, if I hadn't left-"

"It would have been worse." Eponine interrupted.

"No one is EVER going to hurt you again." He vowed firmly.

"That's not going to work."

"No, I swear to god, the next person who lays a finger on you is dead."

Eponine knew that there was no way this was ever going to happen. But, that fight could wait. Despite her gripping, she was insanely glad that Enjolras was here, and she didn't want to fight with him. "Ok." She said, trying to sound flirtatious.

They spent the rest of the day talking, cuddling, and kissing. Despite her injuries, she couldn't remember feeling more content. She wanted to stay here forever, with Enjolras.

**No cliff hanger. Be proud of me!**


	22. Chapter 22

**As always, thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed, each one of you has a special place in my heart. This chapter is dedicate to BeingWhoIWishIWas, who is amazing in every way, shape and form. I'm really sorry about how long this took me too post, but I had to think really hard about where I wanted this story too go. It's totally another fluff chapter, but I'm actually really enjoying writing the fluff. Please review! (Sorry about the uber-long a/n)**

Two weeks later, Eponine stood outside the front door of Enjolras's house. The house, a big luxurious mansion, was every bit as fancy as the Pontmercy and Fauchelevent households, not at all the sort of place she would expect Enjolras to live.

_You'll be fine, _she told herself. She was experiencing major déjà vu. Honestly, she half-expected to find Enjolras making out with Sara when she crossed the threshold of the house.

But this was Enjolras she was with, and she trusted him more than anyone else in the world. Though they had only been together for two weeks, those two weeks felt like an eternity.

Part of that was because Enjolras was a million times a better boyfriend than Marius had ever been. Every morning, instead of meeting her on the front steps, he was waiting outside the front door of her apartment building, and he walked her home every night. He was protective, yet incredibly sweet, and instead of just doing her homework for her, actually helped her understand it. With the aid of Enjolras, she was managing to keep her Algebra grade in the range of a low B. Mr. Brown was thrilled.

Their friends had been insanely supportive of their relationship, even Marius and Cosette, though Eponine still found being around them awkward.

Despite all of this, there was a black spot, a dark lining to the clear sky. Mr. Thenardier had made no change to the way he treated his eldest daughter, and bruises still plastered her torso.

She hadn't mentioned this to Enjolras, of course. She hadn't forgotten his promise, and judging by the way he asked her, very seriously, every day, "are you ok?" he hadn't either.

But there was no way she could tell him. It was all very well for Enjolras to think that he could protect her, but if he tried to take on her father and his gang, in a best case scenario, he would be beaten to a pulp, and there was no way she was going to let that happen, not on her watch.

Thus far, she had been able to hide it by wearing long sleeved tee-shirts and sweaters to conceal her bruises, and by making her siblings swear, on pane of death, not to say a word to Enjolras.

But, that was no reason to run away now, and before she lost her nerve, she lifted the ornately carved brass knocker, and knocked lightly.

She was only waiting outside the door for a handful of seconds before Enjolras opened the door. As usual, her heart lurched at the sight of him.

"Hey 'Ponine," he said with a warm smile.

"Hi," she said, shrugging out of her old battered jacket.

Always the gentleman, he took her coat, and draped it over the banister of the stairs.

"Are your parents' home?" Eponine asked apprehensively.

"If they were, I wouldn't be." Enjolras replied. One of the many things that the two of them had discussed over the last few weeks was Enjolras's relationship with his parents, which was apparently awful. Enjolras had described them as "self-obsessed middle aged snobs". Eponine, never having met Mr. and Mrs. Enjolras, could neither confirm nor deny that description, but she did understand how Enjolras's selfless personality would clash with that sort.

"I guess we're on our own then," Eponine said flirtatiously.

"I don't mind." He replied. Leaning down and kissing her lightly. "Come on," he said, pulling away, and grabbing he hand. He gently tugged her down a fancy hallway, and into a cozy den. It was luxurious, but still homey.

"So, what's new?" Enjolras asked, sitting down on a wide, sleek brown sofa.

"Gavroche has a new girlfriend." She said, curling up next to him.

Enjolras laughed. "Another one?"

"I know," Eponine laughed, rolling her eyes. "This one's name is Kate, Kathy, or Katie. I can't remember which."

"That kid," he said, laughing a little bit, "Is going to get bitch-slapped one of these days."

"Already has." Eponine replied. "Remember Sophia?"

Enjolras laughed.

They had an amazing date. Enjolras had ordered Chinese takeout, (admitting bashfully that he was a horrendous cook), and they watched _The Princess Bride, _kissing whenever the characters on screen did.

When the movie was over, though, Enjolras kissed her, and this time the kissing didn't stop.

This was fine by her, of course. Kissing Enjolras was amazing. She dove further in, so she was almost on top of him.

He pulled away. "Whoa," he said playfully.

"Shut up, I love you." She said, a little bit impatiently, eager for the kissing to resume. Then she realized what she had just said.

Shit. They had been dating for two weeks, and she had just said the l-word. He was going to think that she was an overemotional, clingy, freak. He was going to dump her, and this time, she was going to be on her own forever.

Barley had she opened her mouth, to make some sort of teasing remark, even though what she had said had been one hundred percent true.

But before she could, Enjolras pulled her in closer and whispered, "I love you too." Then they were kissing again, and Eponine whished with all her heart that that kiss could last forever.

An hour and a million kisses later, Eponine was pulling her coat back on, and she was arguing with Enjolras again.

"Please, 'Ponine," he was begging. "At least let me walk you home.

"No way," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "A street rat is one thing; a street rat with a rich boy is different."

"You," Enjolras said, cupping her face in his hands, "Are not a street rat."

Eponine stood on her tiptoes, and gave him a quick kiss. "Love you," she said.

"Love you too." He responded, and opened the door for her.

Despite the stories about public transport at night, Eponine ran into no trouble on the bus, other than a grouchy bus driver, who was overworked and underpaid.

She was about a block away from her apartment building, when a hand was over her mouth and someone was dragging her into an ally.

**Did you really think there wasn't going to be a cliff-hangar? Mwahhaha. **


	23. Chapter 23

**I'm sorry about what happened with the last chapter, I went on to fix some typos, and I accidentally deleted the last bit, so I'm going to repost what I deleted in case you didn't read it. This chapter is really short and really sad, but the story was getting far too fluffy. Please review, there is no way for me to describe how happy it makes me when I open my inbox and find new reviews. **

Despite the stories about public transport at night, Eponine ran into no trouble on the bus, other than a grouchy bus driver, who was overworked and underpaid.

She was about a block away from her apartment building, when a hand was over her mouth and someone was dragging her into an ally. Eponine wasn't scared though, she was about to kick backward as fast as possible, when she recognized her assaulter.

"Hello 'Ponine." Montparnasse said.

Eponine opened her mouth, preparing to scream at the top of her lungs, though she was not sure who would come to help her.

Before she could make a sound though, Montparnasse shoved her roughly against the wall and hissed in her ear, "One scream and you'll be lying on the ground in a pool of your blood."

Eponine closed her mouth. Now she was starting to get scared. Montparnasse was almost a foot taller than her, and a whole lot bigger, there was no way she could either outrun him or fight him off.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying hard to keep her voice steady.

"I want to know why you think its ok for you to go around kissing other guys.

If Montparnasse had given Eponine a million guesses as to what he wanted, that would have been number one million and one. She couldn't help letting her surprise show. "w-w-what?" she said, her voice squeaking a little at the end.

"You heard me," Montparnasse hissed.

He was pressing her against the wall, his breath heavy against her throat. "You've been catting around with your little _boyfriend _behind my back."

Now Eponine was mad. Now, Montparnasse was trying to pull some sort of _I'm in your father's gang, so you belong to me _carp. No way. She didn't care if she got one hell of a beating; she was getting out of here. She raised her knee and slammed it as hard as she could towards Montparnasse's crotch.

He leapt aside, and Eponine started to run.

"You can run, but your brother cant." He called after her.

Eponine froze**.**

"I thought that might catch your attention." Montparnasse sneered, creeping up behind her, and laying a hand on her shoulder. Eponine flinched.

"So, 'Ponine," he said, snaking his arms around her waist, "here's the deal. You're going to break up you're your _boyfriend, _or poor little Gavroche is going to find himself in a whole lot of trouble."

_Is this actually happening? _Eponine wondered.

This was the sort of thing that happened in sexist action movies, or really cheesy fan fiction, not real life. If Montparnasse hadn't been constraining her with an iron grasp, she would have been sure she was dreaming.

But she wasn't.

And now, full-fledged panic began to coarse through her veins. Images of Montparnasse jumping Gavroche flooded her mind. Gavroche was barley five-four; no way would he stand a chance against Montparnasse.

"O-o-okay," she choked out.

"Good," Montparnasse said, his hands creeping down lower and lower. "And one more thing, you're not going to mention our little _arrangement _to anyone, especially not your _boyfriend."_

Then he grabbed her ass.

Eponine indignantly _jumped_ away.

"Yeah, see, you're also going to be ok with that."

Eponine looked at him in horror. No way. She was not going to-

"You know, your sister is awfully pretty." Montparnasse said casually.

"Fine," she spat, desperate to appease him. She started to walk away, trembling.

"By the end of first period tomorrow, that _boyfriend _of yours better be history." Montparnasse called out behind her.

Eponine managed to maintain a dignified walk until he was out of earshot, then she broke into a run. She ran down the street, up the stairs and into her room, not caring about who she woke up.

It was only then that she allowed what had just happened to sink in.

There was no way she could get out of this. She was going to have _to_ dump the boy she loved, the only person who had **ever **made her feel safe.

That's when the sobs began.

"'Ponine?" a voice whispered. Azelma had come into the room.

The sight of her, looking so innocent, made Eponine start to cry harder.

"Are you ok?" Azelma asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Eponine just kept crying.

"Is it Enjolras?" Azelma asked worriedly. "Did you two have a fight? Did you split up?"

Eponine looked at her now, tears streaming down her face.

"Not yet."


	24. Chapter 24

**I'm really sorry about how long it took me to post this chapter, I meant to write it days ago, but anything I write without the proper inspiration turns to utter crap. However, this story now has OVER two hundred reviews, and there are NO WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW HAPPY I AM ABOUT THAT. Please review, running to the computer and checking my email to see if there are reviews is the highlight of my day. J**

It took almost an hour for Azelma to coax Eponine into going to sleep.

Sleep. For once, her dreams weren't plagued by nightmares, and she woke up at seven o'clock, feeling blissfully relaxed.

Until she remembered what had happened the night before. Then she wanted to crawl under her blankets and never, ever, get out.

But she had to.

Quickly, she got dressed, picking clothes that would make her inconspicuous, allowing her to hide from Montparnasse, at least for a couple of hours.

"Come on," she said, grabbing Gavroche's hand and motioning for Azelma to follow.

She wanted to be out of the house before either of her parents woke up.

Enjolras was waiting for them, right outside the building's front door, just like every day. Eponine's heart lurched at the sight of him.

"Hey 'Ponine," he said, smiling at her warmly.

All Eponine wanted to do was smile back and kiss him, like every other day.

But she couldn't. She was going to have to dump him, and she was going to seem like the biggest bitch since the dawn of time. One day after they had exchanged the l-word, and she was going to dump him.

"Hi," she said quietly. That was all she could manage to say.

Something flickered in Enjolras's eyes, and Eponine could tell that he suspected that something was amiss.

Fortunately, Gavroche chose that moment to say, very exasperatedly, "Come on people! I have places to be! People to see!"

"Girls to kiss?" Enjolras teased.

The two of them got into a playful argument about Gavroche's "relationships".

Eponine tuned it out, focusing instead on what she had to do, dreading it with every fiber of her being.

They were almost to Kennedy before Eponine was woken from her thoughts by Enjolras's hand wrapped around hers. It was like she had been shocked. Panic shot through her body, and she yanked her hand away.

Enjolras looked at her strangely, but didn't say anything.

After they had dropped off Gavroche, and Azelma had met up with Grantaire, (which, any other day, would have made her puke.) though, he stopped walking and turned around to look at her.

Eponine stopped too.

"What's wrong?" Enjolras asked concern etched across his face. She could tell by the look on his face that he thought the problem was her father. Wouldn't that be nice?

She was tempted to lie, to smile and shrug it off, saying that nothing was wrong.

But of course she couldn't.

"We need to talk," she said quietly.

Enjolras looked a bit startled, but not overly concerned. "Sure, what's up?"

Eponine breathed in deeply. "I think," she began, but she couldn't get the words out. She tried again. "Ithinkweshouldbreakup." She choked out, turning around and started to walk away.

"Whoa," Enjolras said, grabbing her wrist. "What?"

He was starting to look worried now.

"We need to break up." Eponine repeated, more slowly, trying to keep her voice level, and her face emotionless, as she recited the lie that she had spent a good chunk of her life concocting. "Our relationship, it's just, right now, I just, I can't ok?"

Enjolras's face was now a mask of confusion and hurt. "Did I do something-"

"No, no, it's not you." Eponine interrupted hurriedly. The last thing she needed to do was hurt him more than strictly necessary.

"Then, if it's your father-"

"No," Eponine repeated sadly. "It's me. Just me, no one else." Then, she turned on her heel, and began to walk away, as fast as she could without breaking into a run. She ignored Enjolras's calls after her, and when he tried to catch up with her, she just kept walking; blending into the crowd of teenagers so well that not even Enjolras could see her.

She had sworn to herself that she would not cry. She had cried enough last night to fill a small sea, and there was no point in shedding a single more tear.

_What's done is done. _

At the beginning of the year, Eponine had been the wallflower, the girl who no one ever looked twice at. Now, she was going to have to transform herself back into that girl. Winter break was drawing near, and it was time to let go. It was time for her to let go of all that had happened in the last four months.

Time for her to let go of Jason Enjolras.

Besides, she had far more important things to worry about.


	25. Chapter 25

**I'm so sorry about how long it took me to post this chapter; I've been in rehearsal a lot this week. You guys are all going to loathe me for this chapter, but I need drama to continue this story, because I love writing it SO much. This chapter, I'm using Enjolras's POV, I'm not sure if it'll just be a onetime thing, but please drop a review and tell me what you think.**

New Year's Eve.

For most of the world, the holiday represented new beginnings. Everyone always came up with things they were going to do differently, vowing to change. The entire world charged into the New Year with an optimistic mind set. _This year, everything will be better._

Except Eponine.

She knew that all this year was not going to be an improvement over the last one. The last two weeks had come straight from hell, and since it was unlikely anything was going to change, this year was going to suck.

Of course, she knew better than to stay at home on New Year's Eve. Being near a drunken gang was never a good place to be.

So, the Thernadier children had developed the tradition of spending New Year's Eve at the ABC café, which was always open all night on New Year's Eve. It was always quiet there, full of older adults who wanted to escape the hordes of drunken partiers.

This year, however, both of her siblings had decided to forgo the café, in favor of a party Grantaire was throwing. Eponine had reluctantly agreed to let them go, after making Azelma swear, on pain of death, that she wouldn't let Gavroche drink.

So here she was, on her own, again. Nowhere to go, no home, no friends, not even someone with whom she could exchange cordial greetings.

She missed Enjolras, more than anything else in the world.

They hadn't talked since that awful, awful day when she had broken up with him. He had tried, multiple times, but Montparnasse had always seemed to be hovering around, and she didn't want to risk his retaliation.

She went over to the counter and ordered a coffee. When it arrived, she carried it back over to the green couch where Enjolras had confronted her about her father. This started her thinking about that first kiss in the stairwell, (homecoming didn't count), and every kiss after that.

A single tear trickled down her face. _No_, she told herself, _you've cried enough._

She raised her cup of coffee. "To days gone by," she whispered, and drank.

**ENJOLRAS'S POV**

"Ten Minutes to midnight!" a very drunk Grantaire slurred, barreling into the living room, his arm around the waist of an equally drunk Azelma.

Enjolras groaned.

His friends had forced him to come to this stupid New Year's party, claiming that he was "so hung up on Eponine that you don't remember how to have fun."

Enjolras had been tempted to punch Grantaire in the face after he'd said that. But, after his parents announced that they were throwing a party for other snobby rich people, like themselves, he decided, _oh, what the hell_, and he went.

A couple of hours later, though, and he was seriously wishing that he had suffered through his parent's party.

The party was exactly like every party thrown by Grantaire Enjolras had ever attended; loud obnoxious pop music, a keg, boys peeing on the floor, girls throwing up in the sinks, couples having sex in the closets, and everyone running around screaming.

Enjolras took a sip of his water. Maybe, if Eponine were here, tonight wouldn't have sucked as badly as it had.

He had tried to talk to her, many times, but she had always hurried away. Every time she did the pain of her rejection stabbed him like a knife.

It didn't help that Eponine was starting to resemble a member of the walking dead. She was still hot as hell, but she had lost at least fifteen pounds in the past few weeks, and she now had enormous bags under her eyes. It has to be her father. _Bastard. _

"Hi Enjy,"

Sara had wandered into the room, a beer in her hand. She crossed over to the sofa, collapsed upon it, and flung an arm around his shoulders.

Enjolras stiffened.

He had maintained a friendship with Sara, but they had a strict no-touching policy. But, Sara had always been very clingy-girl drunk, he had noticed that while they were dating.

He was so not in the mood tonight.

"Hi Sara," he said, lifting her arm off of his shoulder, and scooting away from her.

"Oh come on," she said, tossing her long, wild dark hair. "You still hung up on that girl? The one Cosette hates?"

"Eponine?" Enjolras subjested exasperatedly. It was amazing how stuck up Sara could be sometimes.

"Yeah, her" Sara said, absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "You need to move on; it's been, like ages."

Wow. To someone like Sara, maybe two weeks was a long time, but for him…

"I mean, she's already moved on," Sara continued, leaning in closer, still twirling her hair.

"What?" Enjolras asked, sitting up a little bit straighter.

"Yeah, you know with that Montparnasse guy, I've seen them, they're always all over each other."

"Yeah," Cossette, who had also wandered into the room agreed, "They are so sleeping together. I saw them going at it in that empty stairwell. That girl is _such _a slut, I mean she slept with M-m-m Marius." She gasped out, suddenly breaking into sobs.

Enjolras felt fury rise in his body. He felt like he'd been struck by lightning. _Eponine slept with Marius, and Montparnasse. _

"Ten, Nine, Eight-" Combeferre and Angie yelled, charging in, followed by Marius, Bella, Joly, Hanna, Courfeyrac, Gavroche, and some seventh grader with bleached blond hair.

"Seven, Six, Five four-"Sara was inching closer to him.

"Three, Two, One, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Then, Sara kissed him. He was about to pull away when he thought, _If Eponine's moving on, why the fuck should I ignore other girls._

So he kissed Sara back, ignoring the pangs of guilt in his stomach.

But he did have a thing or two he wanted to say to Eponine.


	26. Chapter 26

**Wow. There was a very mixed reception to the last chapter, and I'm pretty sure that the reaction to this one will be even more mixed. This is a filler chapter (I know, I know, I'm sorry), but there will be a longer chapter posted at some point this week. After that though, my show is opening, and there will be no posting for a couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy this chapter though. Don't forget those reviews. **

12 days later

Eponine ran to her locker, swiftly spinning the dial, she had two minutes before the bell rang. She grabbed the textbooks she had left in her locker over winter break, and then slammed her locker shut. Mr. Javert was such a strict teacher that being even half a second late could result in a week of detention, and Eponine couldn't afford to get a detention.

She made it into class with thirty seconds to spare. Keeping her head ducked down, she quickly walked to her desk in the back of the room, not looking at anyone.

Her abrupt split with Enjolras had sadly caused her to split with her friends as well. Since Eponine had been unable to answer for her actions, all of her friends, including both of her siblings, has sided with Enjolras and decided to freeze her out, (not that she blamed them).

Anyway, she had much bigger problems, namely, Montparnasse. He seemed hell-bent on abusing Eponine as much as possible, and when she wasn't compliant, he hit her, hard and frequently. He hadn't raped her yet, but it was only a matter of time.

She was roused from this miserable reflection by Mr. Javert barking, "You are to silently read pages 200-400 of your books and take notes, the notes are due at the end of class."

The entire class groaned, Eponine among them. The book, which was about the founding of England, despite having won a Pulitzer prize and being about a semi-interesting subject, was one of the dullest, driest books ever written in all of human history.

Unmoved by the complaints of his students, Mr. Javert propped his feet up on his desk and buried his face in a nineteen-year-old newspaper.

Sighing, the class opened their text and note books. Despite the dullness of the book, Eponine enjoyed the work, because it provided a perfect excuse for her to keep her head down and avoid looking at Enjolras.

Barley had Eponine gotten through twenty pages, however, when Alexi Wolf, who sat in front of her, slid a folded-up piece of paper on top of her notes. The word _Eponine _was scrawled on the front in a familiar handwriting.

This was too much. Eponine sat up straight and looked around the classroom. Three rows to the left and five desks ahead, Enjolras was diligently taking notes, determinedly not looking at her. Could he not take a hint? Couldn't he see that he was just causing her more pain?

On the other hand, it couldn't possibly be more painful than reading this book.

Hesitantly, she unfolded the note.

It read:

_Eponine:_

_Are you having fun sleeping around? You know that awkward moment when you think you're in a meaningful relationship, and then your girlfriend sleeps with someone else the day she breaks up with you? Have a nice fucking life._

_Enjolras._

_What?_

Eponine's mind was whirling. What the hell did Enjolras mean, _sleeping around?_

She was a virgin, the one scrap of purity left in her miserable little life.

And what was that about her _sleeping with someone else the day you break up_? Nothing like that had ever happened, unless… Montparnasse. _What if Enjolras knows about Montparnasse, but thinks that I actually like him… _that would make sense, anyone who saw the outrageous way that Montparnasse groped her would _defiantly _assume they were sleeping together.

But how could Enjolras know about that? The only time she saw him was at school, and at school, she always made sure that Montparnasse was far, far away from her…

Her train of thought was interrupted by Rita slamming her book shut and standing up. "No," she said, glairing down at the book. Then she picked the book out and started tearing it up. "No, this is dumb, and pointless, and NO!"

Then, to everyone's surprise, Rita grabbed all the pages she had torn out and the remainder of the book, ran across the room to the windows, opened one, and the book out of it.

The entire class burst into enthusiastic applause.

Rita did a sarcastic curtsey, and was about to sit back down when Mr. Javert lowered his newspaper, and glared at Rita with a fire in her eyes.

"SHIT!" Rita yelled, and bolted out the door, Javert hot on her heels.

The class descended into anarchy, everyone talking excitedly about what had just happened. Eponine however, took the opportunity to march over to Enjolras's desk.

It was the first time since they had broken up that she had directly spoken to him. She wasn't scared though, she was pissed.

"Care to explain?" she asked him harshly, throwing the note on top of his open text book.

"I think it's pretty self-explanatory," he said simply.

"No," Eponine replied, a little bit hurt by his abruptness.

"Well, I know you slept with Marius. And now you're sleeping with Montparnasse. Do you have any morals? Even a single scrap of decency?"

Every angry word he said felt like a dagger being plunged into her body. She managed, however, to keep herself from collapsing into tears, and demanded, "Who the hell told you that?"

Enjolras gaped at her. "Does it matter?"

Eponine was about to respond, when Mr. Javert returned, cursing under his breath.

Since disobeying an angry Javert was about as safe as standing in front of a charging rhino, Eponine scampered back to her seat. The rest of class was spent listening to Mr. Javert ranting about how teenagers had no respect, and dodging the pieces of chalk that he occasionally threw at his students.

Eponine didn't get another chance to speak to Enjolras that day. In fourth period French, however, Jenna Proch passed her a note. It read, in Cosette's flowery handwriting:

_Oops. _


	27. Chapter 27

**The reaction to that chapter was exactly as I expected. I do want to say this: I post these chapters as fast as I can write them. There isn't a notebook somewhere where all the answers to the story, I'm often surprised at the turns this story takes. This will be my last chapter for the next week and a half or so,(until my show closes) but it's a nice long chapter, mostly about Cosette, Enjy is on temporary hiatus for the next couple chapters. Also, Valjean in making his debut! Please remember to review!**

Unfortunately, Eponine didn't get a chance to speak to Cosette for the rest of the say. Cosette seemed to know that Eponine was trying to corner her, and spent the remainder of the day surrounded by the football team, whom Eponine had zero desire to speak to. She would have flicked Cosette a note, but the anger she felt could not adequately be expressed on paper.

As Eponine walked to the bus stop, planning to confront Cosette the next day, she saw something that made her stop and stare.

Cosette was standing on the front steps, her black pea coat framing her figure perfectly, her blond hair tumbling down her back. On one side of her stood Marius, on the other, Enjolras. All three of them were laughing.

The sight of them made Eponine feel as cold and stormy as the clouds above her head.

She made her decision. Tugging her old, insubstantial coat tighter around her, she hopped onto the bus.

Gavroche was sitting on the front steps of Kennedy, holding the hand of some girl with bleached blond hair.

"Hi 'Ponine." Gavroche called out. To the blond girl he added, "Cara, this is my sis-"

"You need to get home by yourself today, be careful." Eponine interrupted. She didn't have time for pleasantries. She turned around and was halfway back to the bus stop before Gavroche called after her, "Oi, 'Ponine, where are you going?"

"I've got a rich girls ass to kick."

Barely twenty minutes later, Eponine stood in front of the door of 55 Plumet Road, still seething at what Cosette had done. She had just gone too far this time.

Normally, the idea of approaching such an imposing house would have scared the shit out of Eponine, but she was so mad that it blocked out the fear.

She rang the doorbell, and to her surprise, Cosette herself answered the door. Eponine had expected some sort of butler.

Cosette didn't look surprised to see Eponine.

"Hi!" she exclaimed brightly.

Eponine didn't waste time on pretenses. "What the _hell" _She demanded, narrowing her eyes into slits. "Is your _problem?_"

Cosette didn't seem surprised by that either. "I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Or wait, did I?" she asked, pretending to think.

Her words punched Eponine in the stomach.

"Why do you hate me so much?" she asked quietly.

This seemed to actually surprise Cosette. "You mean, you don't remember?" she asked, the snarky tone she had always used while speaking to Eponine disappearing.

Eponine had no clue what Cosette was talking about. _Remember what? _

Apparently, her confusion showed on her face, because Cosette looked disgusted.

"Don't you remember?" she repeated.

Eponine shook her head. What the hell was Cosette talking about?

Cosette's face hardened. "You really don't remember do you?" she said in wonder. "And I thought you couldn't get any bitchier."

"I don't-"

"Here's a clue. Think about when we were kids." Then she slammed the door in Eponine's face.

As Eponine walked away, questions flowed through her mind. _What is going on? When we were kids? What happened when we were kids? Nothing happened, I didn't even know…_

Cosette's words reminded Eponine of another time, a time she thought of so rarely it was like a dream, a time when her life hadn't been miserable.

Back then, her family had run a successful inn in a small town about a hundred miles away from the city where they now lived. It was a dirt cheap place, full of mice, lice, and watered down wine, yet still people flew through the doors. The guests were treated to the Thenadiers ripping them off, putting animal guts in their food, and stealing all of their personal belongings. Yet to Eponine, it had seemed like a palace.

Back then, her father had loved her; she was never hit or mistreated. He had dangled her on his knee while he ripped off his customers, adding the most ridiculous things to their tabs.

Her mother too had loved both her and Azelma, though she had always hated Gavroche.

They had been, for the most part, a happy, well-rounded, slightly devilish family.

But there had been another girl.

_How had she not remembered? _Cosette had spent almost five years in the care of the Thenadiers, if you could call it care.

Cosette was a child born to an unmarried mother, abandoned by her biological father. In the small town where Cosette's mother intended to find work, such a thing would have caused a scandal, and made it impossible for her to find a job.

The woman had loved Cosette too much to place her in one of the hellish orphanages, chose instead to make a private deal with the Thenadiers. The woman had assumed that her child would be well-cared for.

Unfortunately, however, the Thenardier's greed had vastly overwhelmed their small scrap of compassion.

The money Cosette's mother sent for the care of her daughter was spent on Eponine and Azelma. While they walked around in designer clothes, Cosette sported their worn-out castoffs.

Additionally, the Thenardier's had also used Cosette for free slave labor, forcing her to wait on drunken customers, and then to clean up after them.

Eponine, Azelma, and little baby Gavroche played all day, both with their parents and the other kids in town. Meanwhile, Cosette had to make do with a bar of soap she pretended was a doll.

Her parents had also treated Cosette brutally, beating her often. At age eight, Eponine had not understood that what her parents were doing was wrong. She had idolized her parents. If they were doing it, then she should do it too. So she too had hit Cosette.

One cold winter night however, a man had come to the inn, bringing with him the news that Cosette's mother had dies of pneumonia.

The man had taken Cosette away that night, leaving the Thenadiers with fifteen hundred dollars.

It was then that everything had gone wrong. The money that man had given her father had made him carless, and within two years the inn was closed and her father had filed for bankruptcy.

Once business was no longer booming, her father had showed his true colors. This explained everything. Eponine had always tried to avoid thinking about her childhood, as remembering the happy past couldn't change the present. But how had she not recognized Cosette?

But what she did know was that every horrible thing Cosette had ever done was her way of getting revenge. And it was completely justified.

In her mind, she was watching the bitchy things Cosette had done, and realized that she had once done the same thing.

She sank down onto the sidewalk, still thinking.

She had no idea how long she say there, reliving the past with her newly cleared eyes.

**Five Hours Later**

Eponine was cold. Freezing in fact. It was nearly eleven on a cold January night, and it was snowing.

"Hello?" an older man had stopped, and was peering at her in the dim light of the overhead street light. He looked to be in his mid-fifties, dressed in a well-tailored suit, overcoat, and a top hat, which seemed rather out of place. Eponine recognized him as the man who had taken Cosette away, all those years ago, Cosette's father, Mr. Fauchelevent.

"Um hello," Eponine said, fighting the urge to run and hide.

"What are you doing out here, It's freezing." He asked a reprimanding tone in his voice.

Eponine didn't know how to respond.

Mr. Fauchelevent was now looking her up and down, looking disapproving. "When was the last time you ate?"

Eponine had to think about it. "A couple of days ago sir." Desperate to avoid both Montparnasse and her father, she hadn't been able to get all that much food and her siblings' needs trumped her own.

She realized how pathetic she must seem, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Mr. Fauchelevent reached inside his coat pocket, squatted down and folded a crisp twenty dollar bill into her hand.

Eponine stared at him in amazement.

"Use it to buy yourself something to eat," he told her quietly.

Eponine was speechless. No one had ever showed her this much kindness.

Smiling, Mr. Fauchelevent stood up and began to walk away, entering his house.

"Thank you sir!" Eponine called after him, hoping he heard.

_Twenty Dollars! _With that kind of money, she could feed herself and her siblings for a week.

She sat there for almost an hour, pondering Mr. Fauchelevent's kindness.

Maybe she would have sat there until she had frozen to death, if she hadn't seen the group of men dressed all in black approaching Cosette's house.

Her stomach churned as she recognized the tallest among them.

Her father had arrived, along with his gang.


	28. Chapter 28

**I'm back! When I opened my email a couple of days ago and found nearly twenty reviews, words cannot express how happy I was. Now that my show is over (so sad) I should be able to post more often, at least for the next couple of weeks. This chapter is pretty short, and mostly based on one of my favorite scenes from the musical, but I hope you enjoy it. Just a side note, Enjolras is vacationing in France right now, and won't be reappearing for a while. Don't forget those reviews!**

Eponine's body reacted before her mind did. Quick as a flash, she stood up and slipped through the Fauchelevent's wrought iron fence. She was so thin that it wasn't even a close fit. She ran, as quietly as she could towards the place where the gang was congregated, using the dense trees as cover.

They were all huddled just outside the front gate. Eponine ducked behind a large oak tree.

"Is everyone here?" her father was asking his gang, his low raspy voice barely penetrating the cold night air. The snow was still fluttering down.

Eponine hadn't realized how long she had been sitting on the pavement. It had to be past midnight. Then, the full implications of what was happening hit her.

Her father and his gang were going to rob the Fauchelevent's. _Shit. _What the hell was she supposed to do?

Meanwhile, the gang had broken their huddle, and Babet had taken out his tools and was getting ready to pick the lock on the front gate, since either forcing open the gate or climbing over it would attract far too much attention.

Without Eponine even knowing what she was doing, she had clambered back through the fence, and she was standing between the gang and the gate.

For a moment, the entire gang stared at her, confusion etched across each of their faces. Then, her father blinked, and fury rose across his face. Just by looking at him, Eponine could tell that he was sober, which was a bad sign. Her father rounded on her.

"Who the hell are you?" he growled, slapping his flashlight into his hand repeatedly. He looked ready to kill her.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Eponine had to stop for a moment of indignation. Her father had raised her, adored her when she was small, and he couldn't even recognize her?

Montparnasse turned to face her father. He looked angry to, but not quite ready to snap her neck with one hand (which Eponine was pretty sure he was capable of). "It's Eponine; don't you know your own kid?" Then he rounded on her "What are you doing here?"

Her father's anger had abated slightly upon recognizing her. Still, he clearly did not appreciate the delay in his burglary. "Eponine, go home!" he ordered, "We don't need you for this one."

_No! _Eponine's mind screamed. Four hours ago, she would have been more than happy to allow her father to rob the Fauchelevent's, but now, with her knowledge of Cosette's past, and after witnessing the evidence of Mr. Fauchelevent's kindness, she didn't know what to do.

_Play for time, _she thought. "Look here, there's nothing here that you guys want. The old man and the girl, they live totally normal lives!"

This was a blatant lie. Cosette's house was sure to be full of designer clothes, plasma screen TVs, silver candlesticks, everything that her father loved to steal.

The gang laughed, as if Eponine had just told a clever joke.

"Get out of the way," Montparnasse said, crossing over to her, seizing a handful of her hair, and dragging her roughly away from the gate. "Let's go," he added to the rest of the gang. Babet began picking the lock.

Thoughts were whirling through Eponine's brain a million miles a minute. She couldn't let this happen.

"I'm gonna scream." She called out desperately, "I'm gonna warn them!"

Her father turned around. "One scream and you'll regret it for a year!"

Eponine hesitated only for a moment. Then she opened her mouth, and let out the loudest scream she could manage. Every ounce of anger at Cosette, fear of her father and Montparnasse, worry for her siblings, and, most of all, her grief over Enjolras, everything she had went into that scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

In Eponine's neighborhood, if someone heard a scream like that in the middle of the night, no one would notice, or if they did, no one would care. Here in Suburbia, however, her scream woke up the entire neighborhood. Lights went on up and down the block. What had been a still snowy night was now full of movement.

The gang, realizing that their cover was blown, scattered, faster than Eponine would have believed possible.

Thernadier however, stayed for a moment longer. "You're going to regret this," he hissed in her ear, "You want to scream? I'll give you something to scream about." Then he was gone.

Eponine realized that she had to disappear too, or someone was going to call the cops on her.

She ducked back through the fence, and ran towards the other side of Cosette's house.

She was about to slip out into the night, when she heard a sharp rap on an upstairs window. Illuminated by the electric light, Cosette's angelic face peered down at her. Eponine guessed that she had deduced what had happened.

Cosette motioned for Eponine to wait for her. Eponine was so confused by Cosette's behavior that she actually did.

Cosette came flying out the back door, dressed in some sort of weird white nightgown. "Oh my God, 'Ponine, thank you."

She looked so sincere that Eponine felt nauseated. Despite everything, she still loathed the perfect blond girl.

"We're even." She said coldly, and then turned to leave.

"Wait!" Cosette cried, grabbing her wrist. "Does that mean that maybe we could be friends?" she asked, her tone hopeful.

Eponine looked into the wide baby blue eyes of the girl who had, in so many ways, ruined her life.

"That depends," she said simply, yanking herself free without any difficulties. (Cosette's grip was like a dandelion's)

Then she was gone.


	29. Chapter 29

**Wow. Three hundred reviews! When I saw that, I started doing a happy dance that caused my friends to run away screaming… anyway, the next couple of chapters are going to be ****very ****dark, with some very dark themes, just a heads up. This chapter is very short, but I am pleased to announce that next chapter Enjolras will return, with an entire chapter told from his POV. After that though, anything could happen. Please drop a review!**

It was half an hour before Eponine stopped running. For half an hour, she had blocked out everything except the sound of her feet striking the pavement, feeling the adrenaline coursing through her body, blocking out the world around her.

The only thought going through her mind was _GO, RUN, GET AWAY, FASTER! _ It played over and over again, not exactly clearing her mind, but keeping it on course.

She had no idea where she was going, but she just kept sprinting, until her body commanded her to slow down and rest.

She slowed to a walk, feeling her heart pound heavily inside of her chest.

_What have I done? _She thought, as a new feeling began to flutter inside her chest. Panic. She had never, ever done something like this before. She had deliberately disobeyed her father, and robbed him of what could potentially have been a hefty profit. 

She was sorely tempted to go to the nearest all-night diner, and spend the night there, relying on coffee as fuel rather than sleep. In fact, she was already turning towards the nearest all-night place (it was odd, but no matter where she was, she could always tell where she needed to go.)But then, she remembered her siblings.

_Shit. _Eponine thought. Her siblings. She had completely forgotten about Gavroche and Azelma. It was a school night, both of them would be home, and when her father returned there, he would be furious, and would certainly punish Azelma and Gavroche for Eponine's wrongdoings.

_Why do I always fuck everything up? _She thought in despair, as she redirected her course away from the safe sleepy suburb and towards the danger that would be waiting for her at home, knowing as she did that she would be too late. While she ran, she thought, and as she thought, she felt her stomach shrivel in upon itself.

Everything she touched she fucked up. She had been a bitch to her boyfriend, lost all of her friends, and thrown her siblings directly under an avalanche without so much as a second thought.

All of her life, she had always been on the outside, treated like the worthless bitch that she was. There was nowhere she had ever truly belonged. Why was she even here? All she ever did was fuck shit up for everyone else.

Then it came to her with a burst of clarity more blinding than a meteorite blast. What she was going to do. What she _had to_ do.

Lost in her own thoughts, she had wandered into a deserted neighborhood square. Little shops and restaurants were illuminated by the scant light of a few street lamps. An empty fountain in the center plaza was slowly filling up with snow.

Eponine looked around, praying that there was one here. In the age of cell phones, most towns had gotten rid of them, as they were 'old fashioned, hideous blots on landscapes'.

As she walked through the square, she started to panic. What was she going to do if there wasn't one?

She was about to leave, to run, but then she saw it, tucked into a corner, right next to a disgusting-smelling public bathroom.

A payphone.

Eponine ran to it, relief coursing through her body. This step was crucial. She only hoped that he would pick up. _God, all I'm asking, please… _she thought, as she inserted her quarter. Then hands shaking, she picked up the receiver… and dialed.


	30. Chapter 30

**Wow. OVER THREE HUNDRED REVIEWS! And this is the thirtieth chapter anniversary for The Perks of Being Eponine! And, coincidentally, ENJOLRAS IS BACK! This entire chapter is told from his POV, and the next one will be split between him and Eponine, and then after that I don't know if Enjolras will have another POV chapter, so please, leave a review and tell me what you think. Enjoy!**

**Enjolras**

Enjolras hated basketball. It was weird. He loved just about every other sport, (except golf), but for some reason, whenever Enjolras heard the sound of a dribbling ball, he wanted to jump out a window.

Sighing, he picked up the TV's remote and switched it off. It was unbelievable that with all the money his parents spent on cable, there was nothing to watch, not even a rerun of _Doctor Who. _

He got off the couch and started walking down the hallway to the stairs that led to his bedroom in the basement.

He was strongly reminded of that night with Eponine. The best night of his life.

_No, _he told himself. He wasn't going to think about that, or her.

It had been that way ever since she had broken up with him. Everything reminded him of her, and then he would tell himself to shut up, that she was a bitch, and that it was time to move on. Then, ten minutes later, something else would catch his eye and the whole thing repeated itself.

_Snap out of it, _he told himself, opening the door to the basement and going down the stairs.

The basement of the Enjolras's household was yet another example of his parent's supercilious nature.

The right hand side of the room was occupied by a wide array of state of the art gym equipment that his parents had never touched. It was sickening, the way they had thrown away thousands of dollars just so that they could impress their friends. With that money, Eponine and her siblings could live comfortably for several years.

_Goddamit! _ He was thinking about _her _again.

He opened the door to his bedroom.

Unlike the rest of the house, which a full-time maid worked tirelessly to keep perfectly clean at all times, his room was, well, not exactly messy, but not magazine perfect like the rest of the house.

One side of the room was lined with bookshelves, each packed with paperbacks, some well-read, others untouched. On the other side, the shelves were covered in vinyl records. Enjolras had an IPod of course, but the vinyls had a much better sound quality.

He crossed over to one of the shelves and put out a Green Day record.

After placing it in and hitting play, he flopped down onto his bed, eyes closed.

Barley was he two songs into the album however, when the phone on his dresser vibrated.

He opened his eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost one, who the hell was calling him?

Wearily, he sat up and grabbed the phone. Its little screen read _caller unknown. _

Curious, he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" When he said the word, he was feeling calm, and a little bit tired. Then he heard the voice that made him leap out of bead, all traces of weariness forgotten.

"Enjolras?" Eponine asked, her voice sounding frantic, almost hysterical.

"Eponine?" Enjolras asked, starting to be worried. Why was she calling him at twelve forty-five in the morning? "Eponine, are you ok? What's going on?"

"Enjolras listen to me." Eponine sounded desperate, terrified. "You need to go to my house, as fast as you can, and get Gavroche and Azelma. Do whatever you have to do, but get them out of there!"

_What? _ "Eponine, what's going on? Where are you? Are you ok?"

"No time." Eponine replied. "There's some money in my room, Azelma knows where it is, they can live off of that for a while, or they can go to a shelter, or-"

She was interrupted by a beep on her end of the line. Enjolras heard her mutter a curse. "I don't have much time, listen, tell Gavroche and Azelma how much I love them, and how sorry I am, and I'll see them when I wake."

"Eponine-"

"Promise me you will keep them safe!" her voice was getting hysterical again.

"I-I-swear." Enjolras stuttered, "But, 'Ponine-"

"Enjolras, listen to me. A lot has happened, and I know you don't understand." She was speaking so quickly that her words were piling on top of each other. "I need you to know that I love you, and I'm sorry. I love you, and I know you hate me, but you need to know, I'm sorry. I have to go-"

"No, Eponine, please, don't hang up, please, talk to me." Enjolras pleaded.

"I can't, there's no time,"

"Ponine please, don't hang up, I'm begging you-"

"Protect them." She said her voice quiet and calm. Then there was a click on the other end, and Eponine was gone.

"EPONINE!" Enjolras shouted into the phone, to no avail.

He was scared now. _What was going on?_

Eponine had told him to hurry. He could worry about her, and her declaration of love, later, after he had gotten Gavroche and Azelma. He grabbed his keys and was almost to the door when a terrible, terrible idea struck him. An idea so terrible that it made him freeze in his tracks. Yet he knew it was true.

"No," he whispered.

Then he ran for his car.


	31. Chapter 31

**ATTENTION: YOU NEED TO READ THIS AUTHORS NOTE; IT HAS IMPORTANT THINGS IN IT! Well, I'm out of school (finally), and I passed most of my finals, except Precalc, but there's no way I'm ever going to need that in real life. Unfortunately, that means I won't have as much time to write this fic (That might be why I failed Precalc). Moreover, I am starting a show, so I'm going to be AWOL for…five weeks. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I might be able to post ****once ****during that time (tentative might). I'm really sorry about the cliffy, but I thought I had more time, and then I looked at my calendar and was like HOLY SHIT! But, onto the IMPORTANT INFO. This is a long and very important chapter, and it is told alternating from Eponine and Enjolras's POV. I typed it up with the little signs, and it really interrupted the flow of the story, so WHEN THE WRITING IS IN ITTALICS, IT'S EPONINE'S POV, WHEN NOT IT'S ENJOLRAS! I'm sorry about the really long a/n. I'm really going to miss you guys, don't forget to review! Xoxoxoxox**

_It was nearly two o'clock, and as each minute flew by, the night got colder. Eponine could feel the night closing in around her._

_And so she walked on, alone in the night, her death coming closer with every step._

_For once in her life, she was at peace. _

Enjolras knew he only had minutes, and a world to save.

He took the stairs three at a time, sprinting through the house, and diving into his car. After he had pulled out of the driveway, he pulled out his phone, driving with his knees, as he texted Daniel Simons, a nerdy genius who never slept. Enjolras sent him the details of Eponine's call, asking him to trace it, and telling him that the faster he was, the more Enjolras would pay him.

Meanwhile, he raced through the night, driving three times the speed limit, hurtling towards the Thernadiers's apartment.

_The snow was still coming down, thick and fast. She was only a mile away. It was coming nearer and nearer, but she was unafraid. _

He was outside Eponine's apartment in three minutes flat. He stopped the car, and leapt out, not pausing to think, or even shut the car door.

He hesitated only for a second outside the front door, before deciding to take the fire escape up.

He had to climb quietly, for fear of waking up anyone in the building who might sound an alarm, but every extra second killed him. He should be looking for Eponine. But he couldn't bring himself to disobey her last request.

One of the millions of marvelous things about 'Ponine was that she never locked the window that led to the fire escape. He almost smiled, but then, with a pang, he realized that if he didn't do anything, Eponine would soon be gone.

Enjolras pried open Eponine's bedroom window. It looked exactly the way it had the day he had visited Eponine. But he didn't have time to remember. Now it was time for him to move.

He paused for a moment to listen at the door, but all was silent.

As quietly as he could, he opened the door, and left Eponine's room, crossing to Azelma's room next door.

If Eponine's room was small, Azelma's was a mouse hole, barley large enough for the twin sized bed. Azelma was sprawled across the bed, sound asleep.

Enjolras didn't hesitate. He kneeled down next to her. "Azelma, Azelma, wake up," he whispered, shaking her roughly.

Azelma's eyes flew open. "Enjolras, what the fuck-"

"No tome," Enjolras said, listen, you need to grab a couple of things, then get out of the apartment. Do you know where Eponine keeps her money?"

"Yes, but-"

"You need to get all of it, any money you have, bring it!"

"Enjolras, what's going-"

"I'll explain everything later, but right now, we need to leave. Get your stuff while I wake up Gavroche."

Something about his tone made Azelma stop asking questions, and she leapt out of bed.

After a similar confrontation with Gavroche, Enjolras helped both of them get out the window and down the fire escape.

_The snow was just starting to stick; making the pavement shine like silver .She was half a mile away._

"Enjolras, will you please tell us what the hell is going on?" Azelma asked, once they had reached the safety of the sidewalk.

"It's a long story," Enjolras said. "Listen, you need to take the bus to my place. Azelma, you know where it is. The back door is unlocked, and my parents aren't home.

He turned to go, when Gavroche called out "Enjy, what about you?" his face was etched with confusion and fear.

"I'll meet you later. I have to stop your stupid sister from doing something terrible."

_She was close, very close. Ten minutes maximum and she would be free, free from her miserable little life. The snow was still falling. _

Enjolras leapt into his car, revving it while he checked his phone. Thank God, Daniel had texted him, giving him the address of a payphone about a mile away from where Cosette lived. He slammed on the gas, violating about five hundred traffic laws as he flew through the night.

_She was there. Maybe a hundred steps away. A hundred steps, then she was free._

Using spectacularly illegal driving, Enjolras managed to reach the payphone in four minutes. For a minute, Enjolras thought he had made it in time, and that he would see Eponine sitting next to the phone, shivering.

But no one was there, except… Enjolras rolled down the window of his car to get a closer look. Lying in the snow like an omen predicting the apocalypse, Eponine's old, tattered paperboy hat.

Enjolras felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. She wasn't here. She could be gone, dead and cold and he had wasted precious time rescuing her stupid siblings. She was dead.

He felt himself falling into the pit of despair, feeling his chest being torn apart. He had failed.

But, what was that? A trail of footprints in the snow, leading from a side road to the payphone, and then off on a different road. The tread marks matched Eponine's boots.

Quicker than he would have believed possible, Enjolras leapt into action .He had to move swiftly, before the snow filled up her footprints.

He flew into his car. As he did so, he knew that Eponine was likely already dead. But, if there was the slightest chance that she was still alive, then goddamit, he would find her.

The car was going a hundred and forty miles an hour, and it wasn't fast enough. The footprints were disappearing quickly. Where did she go? Then he saw where the footsteps were going, and he slammed on the gas, willing it to go faster.

_The water was churning below her, not quite frozen, but so cold that you could practically see waves of chill radiating from it. As she looked down, she could hear every word she had ever been called._

_Worthless_

_Skank_

_Bitch_

_Waste_

_As she heard every word, she knew it was true._

_She had done everything she needed to do. There was nothing left for her here._

She was there, standing on the edge of the bridge like an angel poised to jump. He was only ten yards away

9 yards

8 yards

Eponine didn't seem to realize that he was coming. He was only three yards away when he saw…

_She was flying._


	32. Chapter 32

**I said maybe there would be a chapter, and there is a chapter. Aren't I nice? This chapter is different from the rest of the fic, just because it was so hard for me to write. Normally, as soon as inspiration strikes, the chapter is finished within half an hour. This time, it was written sentence by sentence between rehearsals, and as I was typing, I kept changing stuff. The writing isn't up to my usual standards, but, I had to write this chapter and get it over with. It also hasn't been viewed by any of the three editors who usually look at what I post, so if this sucks, I'm sorry. It's also overly cliché, but bear with me, it will improve. I'll start writing again once my show closes, but just a heads up, there's another one right around the corner. See you in three weeks! Please review!**

Eponine had always wanted to fly, ever since she was a little girl, and had looked up at the birds in the sky. As she got older, her desire had increased, even more so after the motel had gone out of business. The idea of soaring, with nothing but the wind was a forbidden fantasy to her, and even more so was the idea of being free.

And so, as she plummeted to her death at a hundred miles an hour, she was laughing.

When she was ten meters away from the surface of the river, she spread her arms and legs, eyes shut ready to die.

She hit the water. It was moving too fast to be frozen yet, but it was so icy cold that you could practically see the cloud of cold radiating from it. Eponine barely noticed. Barely noticed the cold penetrating every fiber of her body. Barely noticed the current tossing her body every which way. Barely noticed the rocks splitting open her skin. She just didn't care. Her heart and brain were as cold as the waters surrounding her.

She was alone. The world around her began to tilt and whirl. The night was closing in. She was almost there.

She began to sink, faster and faster. _Almost there._

Then, something crashed into her numb, limp body.

An arm was around her waist. Someone was trying to drag her back up to the surface.

Eponine tried to open her eyes, but it was like they were cemented shut.

It didn't matter though. Whoever it was, they were clearly trying to save her life, a life that didn't deserve saving.

So she kicked out with all the force she could muster.

**Enjolras POV**

Enjolras stood on the bridge for barely a second before diving in after Eponine. As he free-fell and adrenaline rushed through his body, all he could see was Eponine, who crashed into the water and was being tossed through the currents like a rag doll.

With a loud SPLASH! He hit the water.

It was even colder than he had imagined, but he didn't care, but he just focused on Eponine, swimming with all of his might, but getting deterred by the currents.

She was getting closer to him, but also approaching a huge cluster of enormous rocks at the river bank. He swam even faster, his muscles screaming.

He grabbed Eponine around the waist, and began to try to tug her to the river bank.

Unfortunately, Eponine was still conscious enough to resist. They were twenty yards away when she kicked him in the gut, hard. Taken by surprise, Enjolras let go of her.

In the second he was out of it, the currents managed to whisk Eponine a good ten meters away.

Enjolras dove down after her. Eponine was being tossed backward toward the rocks. The faster he swam, the faster the river ran.

He dove down, ready to snatch her out of the water. As soon as he was under, she disappeared.

He resurfaced just in time to see her head smash into a rock.

She was sinking, fast, knocked unconscious, or…_No, _he told himself, _she's alive, she's got to be._

He dove down again, grabbing her waist and dragging her up.

Then he towed her to the shore.

If this was some sort of romantic movie, at this point, Enjolras would lay Eponine on the ground and kiss her, but this was real life, and the ground was covered in snow. And the last thing either of them needed now was to get colder. He could already feel the ice crystals forming in his hair. After draping Eponine on the rocks and prying himself onto the shore, the full force of the earth-shattering cold. He could barely breathe.

He began to violently shudder, and it took all his willpower not to crumple. He hadn't come this far to fail.

Grabbing Eponine in his arms, he began to run, his muscles burning.

He lost track of the world around him. All that mattered was that he just kept running.

There it was. In all of its red, glossy glory. His car. Never before had he been so grateful to see anything. In his haste, he had left it unlocked, with the heat still running.

With a final push, he sprinted into the car, slamming the door shut behind him, and quite literally dumping Eponine onto the back seat.

Just before his muscles crumpled, he remembered that he would have to move his car, or there would be trouble come morning.

Somehow, he managed to pull the car into the remotest corner of the covered car park right on the other side of the bridge, and then locked the door.

He clambered into the backseat, squashing himself into the gay between the front and back seats. _Thank God, she's alive, _he thought. He kissed Eponine on the forehead, breathing in her jasmine, oak, Eponine scent. Then he descended into darkness.

_Montparnasse stood on the bridge, looking down at the water. Was it possible the little bitch had jumped? Many would have given up, but he knew in his gut that she was alive. He would find her. _

_And when he did, the little bitch would wish she'd met her end in the cold, dark waters. _


	33. Chapter 33

**I'm back! I know it's been a while, I've been uber busy. My show just closed, but there's another one that I'm starting very, very soon, and it's going to take up almost all of my time, and it's my first priority. I'm also trying to get the research for a historical fiction original novel done before school starts (groan), so that's also going to take up a lot of my time. I'm really sorry about how long it takes me to update, but theatre has to come first. I want to give a shout out to Grace, who has been an amazing reviewer, and who has constantly encouraged me to keep on writing. If you like this fic, please review, because I'm seriously considering ending it, because I don't have a lot of time to write, so if you like this fic and want it to keep going, drop a review. NOTE: From now on, it will probably only be Eponine's POV, Enjolras's isn't fun for me to write.**

When she opened her eyes, the world was blurry. No, not blurry, more like, out of focus, like she was looking through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars.

Where was she? What was going on?

"Eponine? Eponine, can you hear me?" A voice was asking her. It sounded distantly familiar. Where had she heard it before?

Someone was shaking her. Again, the person looked familiar, but who was it? All she could make out was blond hair. _Oh god, please not Cosette. _

She blinked, and the world shifted into focus.

She was on the backseat of a car, and next to her, looking at him with concern in his eyes, was Jason Enjolras.

What the hell?

"Eponine, can you hear me?" Enjolras sounded on the verge of panic.

She tried to open her mouth, to tell him that she was fine, but her lips were cemented together. With effort, she managed to wrench them apart. "W-w-what happened?" her voice was thin and raspy, barely more than a whisper.

"You don't remember?" Enjolras asked in alarm. "Here, sit up, and we can talk."

She tried to sit up, but found it was impossible. Every part of her was frozen solid.

Enjolras, noticing her struggles, helped her. Once he was sitting next to her, it struck her how weird the scene would look to an outsider.

"What happened?" she asked again.

But even as she said it, it all came back to her. Cosette, her father, the payphone, the snow, the bridge. The last thing she remembered was kicking her unknown rescuer.

_What did I do to deserve this? _She wondered. Was it that much to ask that Enjolras let her die in peace.

"It was you who grabbed me." She said. It wasn't a question.

"What the fuck is your problem?" she asked with as much anger as she could muster whilst trying to camouflage her trembling.

Enjolras's face shifted from tender concern to red hot anger in the blink of an eye. "I just fucking got up at one o'clock in the fucking morning and snuck into your house like a fucking burglar. Then I fucking save your life, and you have nothing to say?"

Some distant part of Eponine's brain knew that what Enjolras was saying held merit, that what she had asked him to do was completely ridiculous, and that she should be grateful, but she was mad. What the actual fuck!

She had trusted him not to interfere, and now, she was stuck owing him more. Every time she tried to get away from him, he kept turning up, and being so damn perfect.

"You know what? Fuck you!" she said. She opened the door, and got out of the car. She was ready to kill him, but she was going to need him to look over siblings after her father had murdered her.

He didn't call after her. She began to walk away, though the force of putting one leg in front of the other hurt. She made it twenty feet before she saw him, entering the garage where Enjolras seemed to have parked his car.

Montparnasse.

_I just can't catch a break can I?_

Montparnasse was here; still dressed in his robbery clothes, black shirt and pants, black hat and mask. But she could recognize that frame from a mile away.

Shit.

If he hadn't changed, then he had been looking for her all night. She had known Montparnasse since she was five, the kid could track anything. _He was going to kill her._

She didn't have any options. Had he already seen her? Maybe. She needed somewhere to hide, and fast. Ducking down, she began to run. This was a really bad idea.

She opened the door of Enjolras's red car. To her surprise, he was still sitting in the back of the car, flipping through some sort of old-looking book. _Why does he have this is his car? _Some small part of her brain thought to ask.

She leapt in, closing the door behind her.

"What the fuck?" Enjolras yelled.

Oh shit. There was no way she was going to be able to get him to shut up and get down, unless…

Enjolras was still talking. "I can't fucking believe-"

But he was interrupted by Eponine on top of him, her lips pressed against his.


End file.
